Currently there are very few and feeble laws in place to protect domestic and wild animals in the UK. My research has shown me that in fact there are no laws in place to protect wild animals (with the exception of various species of bird.) What prompted me to write a petition taking action against these minor token laws was an article that I recently read. It concerned two men who had tortured and killed a wild deer for their own amusement. The men filmed the event, and the police only discovered this due to a drug raid that took place, where mobile phones were seized and the video was found on their phones. The men were sentenced to just 8 weeks in prison. The full story can be found here;

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/porthmadog-men-jailed-barbaric-torture-9282630?fb_ref=Default#ICID=sharebar_facebook

Had the victim been a child then the men would be facing a much longer sentence. All animals domesticated or wild are as innocent and helpless as children. They deserve the same protection and justice.

Another example is of a man who acquired a puppy and after two months got bored of the infant. He physically assaulted the puppy and then stabbed him 10 times in his chest. This man was only sentenced to 6 months. Had the victim been a human being, the crime would be considered first degree murder and the man would have been sentenced to life in prison. Part of his punishment is that he can never own an animal. How is this enforced? What is to stop him from approaching a breeder and using a different name or getting the animal from a friend? There is nothing in place to stop this. Parents can identify pedophiles if necessary via the internet's sexual offenders list. Ethical animal breeders should have the same information available to them when looking into prospective animal owners.

I ask you to consider this; why in the eyes of the law is there a difference between taking an animals life and taking a humans life? There shouldn't be. Subjecting any form of life to unrelenting fear and pain through your own volition is a matter so devoid of compassion and humanity that it must be met with heavier and more consequential laws. What I hope to achieve from this petition is clearer and more robust rights for animals, protecting them in the same manner that we as humans, expect to be protected.  

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this. Please sign and share on behalf of the animals who can't speak up for their rights.

Awen Dobson.