On Animal cruelty? :( apparently it's on the rise, there was some awful images, a dog chained up in the kitchen left to starve to death, how very sad and sick are these people?
Poor staffies are being used to fight rival gangs dogs, to give them status to see who has the harder dog and i am hard image, what pathetic and sad little people :(

Yes, I read it in the paper today.  Is it increasing though or is it just that successful prosecutions are up?  Not sure how they are differentiating.

> Is it increasing though or is it just that successful prosecutions are up? 

I think that it's more to do with changes in the law, making prosecutions more common. My dad saw the news & was telling me about it, i will never understand how some people can be so cruel :(

Well, if it is a case of successful prosecutions going up this is good news.

They also said there was a large rise in people being banned from keeping animals but that doesn't actually mean anything if it can't be enforced. :(

Apparently a 34% rise in convictions against dogs, i think it was 12% for cats according to the RSPCA.

Lets hope it is an increase it those prosecuted/ reported not the actual occurances.

Well done the RSPCA...

They said on the news that it is because of a change in the law that they are able to intervene and prosecute, so there aren't more cases, they can just prosecute more. About bl**dy time.

Here here :)

ditto

bring back dog licences and while they are at it licences for other pets too.....

Licences didn't work before, so how would they work now? Mind you, maybe they should have the laws like they do in Dubai. Every dog has to have a coloured disc on its collar. If it is found wandering, or has the wrong colour disc they are shot!!!!!!

well you have to pay for a licence!!! if you cant afford a licence you cant afford a dog...

Who says it didnt work before?  Just because a Government says it doesnt work might not be telling the truth.  If it didnt work then maybe it would work now.

Something needs to be done, same with people having kids willy nilly.....

Licencing still exists here (NI) and it definitely does nothing to encourage responsible ownership...we have an appalling record for animal cruelty and there are more dogs PTS in shelters per capita than in the rest of the UK.

Good point!!

I know Ireland have a problem with puppy farming so poss wont help - what will help?

I remember the dog licence being supposedly compulsary, and very few people actually bothered to get one which is why it was stopped. It cost more to collect than the money coming in for it.

What worries me is if it came into force that dogs had to be licensed, how could you tell in say a pack of dogs of the same breed which dog is which? Also the way that authorities think these days they would probably make it compulsary to be microchipped which I am very much against and I know other dog owners who are equally against microchipping. My dogs are registered at the KC, which is like a licence if you think about it, they are tattooed and DNA registered with another company.

And even with all methods of id and licensing being taken into account, it still would not work, it would tie up an endless amount of time for the police or perhaps the RSPCA inspectors who are often criticised for not dealing with cruelty cases even now. The only way it could work would to be set up a new organisation with legal powers and employ officers, which would cost a lot of money, would you be prepoared to pay several hundred pounds a year to have such an organisation? I don't know about anyone else here but I would rather spend hundreds of pounds a year on my dogs. (Yes they are spoilt) :-D

Just out of interest how long ago did we have a dog licence law? :)

It was abolished in 1987

>Just out of interest how long ago did we have a dog licence law?

The last one I bought expired in August 88. When I went to renew it, they'd been abolished. They cost the princely sum of 37p!