Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 16 March 2022
I thank Maurice Golden for lodging his motion for debate, and for raising the important issue of whether we need a new criminal offence of dog theft.
As we have heard, pet theft is not treated with the seriousness that it deserves in our society. Legally, stealing a dog is pretty much treated in the same way as stealing someone’s phone, and that simply cannot be right. Although we live in a society in which people are, sadly, far too attached to their phones, they can easily be replaced like for like, but we cannot replace a unique, loved family pet, the loss of which can be devastating. At present, the law does not adequately consider the emotional distress caused by the loss of a pet. Pets are companions. They are part of our families, and the law should better acknowledge that.
As Christine Grahame said, animals are also sentient beings. We all know that and the science has proved it. They experience pain, suffering, joy and comfort, so equating them to property is denying them the right to be considered to be sentient beings, and that is not right.
Now certainly seems to be the time to reassess the law so that we do not continue to regard pets largely as property. The past few years have been really challenging for everyone. During that time, for many people, their pets have provided company and support through periods of isolation and constant worry. More and more people have turned to pets to provide that comfort at times of huge uncertainty, and more than ever we understand and better appreciate the huge benefits that a pet can bring to a household.
More than half the people who were surveyed by Blue Cross said that their first pet taught them unconditional love or the meaning of friendship. It and other charities have seen, from the fantastic work that they do to rehome pets, that pets improve owners’ mental and physical health, prevent loneliness and encourage learning and empathy in children. Let us recognise that and properly value the welfare and safety of our animals.
Today’s motion focuses on the theft of dogs, and I understand why. There has been a big rise in dog theft during the pandemic—it has gone up by around 170 per cent, partly because, as Maurice Golden said, the price that is paid for dogs has risen by as much as 89 per cent. Of course, the monetary value of a loved pet is what owners care about the least.
It is important that we protect, through robust animal welfare laws, all of our animals, whatever their monetary value. That point has been made by Cats Protection. It might be less reported, but cat theft in the UK increased by 194 per cent between 2015 and 2020, and that crime will impact on a family just as much as the theft of a dog. We also know that, in Scotland, although all dogs over eight weeks old must be microchipped, that is not the case for cats, which makes it much more difficult to return stolen or lost cats to their owners. If we are to strengthen the law on dog theft—or consider strengthening sentencing guidance to better cover pet theft, which is a point that has been raised—