The following pages include various legislation that cover animal welfare. These are provided solely for information purposes, to give you an idea of the laws that surround the keeping of animals and so that information is easily accessible if you come across a situation in which you think the law is being ignored (incidences of animal abuse in farms, in homes and so on).
As many of us know, just because there is a law in place to protect someone, this does not always stop abuse from happening. Some may also be distrusting of the police to investigate incidences of abuse against non-human animals. It must also be said that the freebeagles collective believe that it is wrong to “own”, breed and use animals, regardless of how well they are looked after.
However, there have been times when investigations have been done, or someone has simply walked past an animal in distress and, if nothing can be physically done to help at that moment, those people have wanted to know if what is going on is against the law and if relevant authorities (RSPCA, the police and so on) can be brought in to try and help. While we might not all wish to associate with certain authorities, it may be that places of abuse can be shut down through a legal process. It is up to individuals to decide what to report. The following pages are here to try and help you find out more about the laws in place.
Much of the information has been taken from the APGAW website and from the Beat Officer’s Companion