Under the 2006 Animal Welfare Act, perpetrators of even the most heinous cruelty against animals can receive only a maximum of 51 weeks in prison - far lower than for other serious crimes. In reality, sentences are often much, much lower (and often non-custodial) - see, for example, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/12015100/RSPCA-Chunky-the-Chihuahua-set-on-fire-and-fed-drugs.html (nb this story contains some very distressing details). 

A petition to increase sentencing for animal cruelty was submitted during the 2010-2015 Parliament, but sadly received only just over 14,000 of the required 100,000 signatures by the March 2015 deadline for it to be taken further in Parliament - see  https://petition.parliament.uk/archived/petitions/61926.

I KNOW that there are many, many more people out there who want to see animal cruelty better recognised in law.

Please, please rally round and require our legislators to act on this important issue. Thanks.

Ann and Gary

PS the picture is of our cat, Odin, who was rescued from cruelty, which included a neglected eye infection that left him partially blind and an untreated broken leg. He is now a gorgeous, happy, spoiled fellow!