Vet and MP urges Government to fight ‘early signs’ of animal abuse

A vet and MP has backed calls for tougher sanctions against animal abusers and greater sharing of information about their crimes.

A Government minister has insisted enforcement protocols are being strengthened, despite resisting calls for a publicly accessible register of offenders.

But Danny Chambers drew on his clinical experience as he warned further measures remain necessary during a Westminster Hall debate on 29 June.

He said: “As vets, we are trained to recognise the early signs of diseases so that we can treat them before they become irreversible, and I believe we should take the same approach to violence.

“Animal abuse is not always an isolated act of cruelty; sometimes it is the first symptom of something much more dangerous.”

Online petition

The comments came as MPs debated an online petition, signed by nearly 240,000 people, which demands automatic lifetime ownership bans for anyone convicted of neglecting or abusing an animal, plus the development of a publicly accessible register of offenders.

Although Defra said it had “no plans” to introduce the measures in its published response to the petition, Dr Chambers argued people convicted of deliberately abusing animals should be barred from ownership, with long-term and life bans available to courts.

He also called for offence details to be shared under the domestic violence disclosure programme and for people who sexually abuse animals to be put on the sex offenders’ register too.

He warned there was no way of tracking offenders in the latter category under current prosecution protocols, describing them as “an anomaly that this house should fix”.

Several other contributors argued in support of alternatives that would make offence details available to professionals including vets.

One of them, Labour’s Lee Pitcher, reminded the Government his party had been elected on a commitment to strengthen animal welfare.

‘Better awareness’

He said: “We should now look carefully at whether the animal protection provided after a cruelty conviction is strong enough in practice.

“We should now look carefully at whether the animal protection provided after a cruelty conviction is strong enough in practice.”

Defra minister Stephen Morgan insisted cross-governmental work around the issues would continue, but argued the “risks” of a publicly accessible offender register outweighed its benefits.

He said: “Our focus is on better awareness, appropriate information-sharing, pet fostering, veterinary awareness and stronger microchipping safeguards.

“That is why the right information must reach the right people at the right time through lawful and targeted safeguarding routes.”