Sector news
Pets as Property?
The Pet Abduction Act 2024 is a welcome addition to the current canon of animal welfare legislation in the UK. The Act introduces new offences of dog and cat abduction and contains powers to make secondary legislation (statutory regulations) to include other species of animals that are commonly kept as pets.
The Act represents an interesting development in animal welfare law for a number of reasons but, perhaps, most importantly, because it seeks to move away from the long held legal concept of pet animals as property (personal chattels or goods).
The concept of animals as property dates back thousands of years to when animals were first domesticated. In the case of livestock, such as pigs, sheep and cattle, the idea of animals as property was linked to their intrinsic economic value as sources of food, hides and wool.
Our relationship with other domesticated animals, such as dogs, horses, mules and donkeys, appears to be slightly different; these were, and in many cases still are, working animals that were selectively bred to carry out various functions. Cats, of course, were, and still are, highly valued for their effectiveness at controlling rodent populations. However, In the last 200 years, these species have, increasingly, come to be regarded as pets or companion animals and the law, including the Pet Abduction Act, reflects that slightly different relationship.
The concept of animals as property, or personal chattels, was well established In English Common Law (cases and precedent as opposed to legislation) by the eighteenth century when common law was first codified by Sir William Blackstone in the Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765-1769).
About the Commentaries
The Commentaries classify all domesticated animals as property (personal chattels) and animals have been classified as property in legislation, such as the Theft Act 1968 and the Criminal Damage Act 1971, since then.
The Commentaries record that, in the eighteenth century, it was a crime to steal animals that are “fit for food” but only a civil matter to steal animals such as cats and dogs “only kept for pleasure, curiosity, or whim because their value is not intrinsic, but depending only on the caprice of the owner.”
However, in the nineteenth century more sophisticated ideas about our relationship with animals began to emerge which led to the establishment of the first animal welfare charities and to the enactment of the first animal welfare legislation. The impact that animal welfare charities and those who support them have had on changing society’s attitudes to animals and cruelty cannot be understated; they have made a huge difference.
The Cruelty to Animals Act 1876
So far as pet or companion animals are concerned, the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876 contained certain protections for dogs, cats, horses, mules and donkeys in scientific experiments; these protections are retained in the current legislation in this respect, the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 and appear to reflect our slightly different relationship with these species.
The Pet Abduction Act also reflects that slightly different relationship and is the first piece of legislation to introduce the idea, expressed in the Explanatory Notes to the Act, that “pets are not mere items of property”.
It remains a crime under the Theft Act to steal other species of domesticated animals not commonly kept as pets and any legislation that reflects the particular cruelty of stealing pets is to be welcomed; the Act also provides an interesting example, for those concerned with animal welfare, as to how the law evolves to reflect our relationships with animals and the vital role that animal welfare charities and those who support them play in changing perceptions and improving the lives of animals.