Animal welfare and advice

Under the UK Animal Welfare Act, it’s against the law to be cruel to an animal. If you own an animal, you must make sure its welfare needs are met. Find out what your responsibilities are under the law and where to get help if you need it.

UK Animal Welfare Act 2006

You are responsible for your pet’s welfare, under the Animal Welfare Act. This means you must look after your animal by making sure it:

• has a proper diet, including fresh water
  
• has somewhere suitable to live
  
• is kept with or away from other animals, depending on its needs
  
• is allowed to express itself and behave normally
  
• is protected from, and treated for, illness and injury

The Act also says that you must be over 16 years old to buy an animal.

Who enforces animal welfare?
Local councils, animal health officers and the police have the power to enforce the Animal Welfare Act. If you are cruel to an animal or don’t provide for its welfare needs, you may be banned from owning animals. Or, you could be fined up to £20,000 and/or sent to prison for up to six months.

Reporting cruelty to animals

If you suspect an animal is being neglected or subjected to cruelty, take note of what you've seen. Then phone the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ (RSPCA) 24-hour cruelty and advice line on 0300 1234 999.

You’ll be asked to give a detailed description of what you have seen or heard. It’s helpful for the RSPCA to take your details, so they can contact you if they have any other questions. However, if you want to remain anonymous, you can do this.

Organisations like the RSPCA can request the help of local authorities or the police if necessary. They may request help if they need to gain access to a property or are physically threatened by the owner.

Reporting cruelty checklist:

1. Your own name, address and telephone number for our records.
   
2. The date, time and place of the offence
   
3. Our controller will need to ask you a series of questions about the animal(s) involved to establish the full situation.
   - freedom from hunger and thirst
   - freedom from discomfort
   - freedom from pain, injury or disease
   - freedom to express normal behaviour
   - freedom from fear and distress.
   
4. If known, the name(s) and address(es) of the person(s) involved.
   
5. The names and addresses of any witnesses.
   
6. The registration number and description of any vehicle involved.

How to Tell if a Dog has Been Abused

1. Check the dog for physical signs of abuse. These could include scars, lesions, burns or open wounds. Check his paws, legs, mouth and eyes. Run your hand through his coat against his skin and see if you find any abnormalities. Especially look for trauma around his face and hindquarters. Missing fur or sores around his neck could indicate a dog that was chained up for long periods.
   
   
2. Look for malnourishment. A dog that is wafer thin with his ribs sticking out has not had enough food, or nourishing enough food, to eat. The dog may have missing teeth that rotted out, cloudy eyes, show no energy and be generally fatigued. A dog that scrambles for any hint of food that falls on the floor may also have been starved. Repeat vomiting and bloody diarrhea are other signs.
   
   
3. Gauge his reaction to ordinary things. If the dog cowers, growls, hides or runs off at the sight of a broom, mop, newspaper or anything else you happen to pick up around the house, there’s a good chance the dog has had some bad encounters with such objects in the past. See if he has any adverse reactions to things. Getting him a collar, leash, stick or anything else with which he’s been tied up or hit with could definitely signal past abuse. He may run, growl, cower or perhaps even lunge to attack in the presence of any of these items, or others that he’s been abused with.
   
   
4. Watch for signs of fear. A dog that refuses to leave his kennel, hides beneath the bed and won’t come out or stares wide-eyed and terrorized at all things surrounding him may honestly be that terrorized because of a past history of having bad things happen unless he is fully out of sight.
   
   
5. Raise your arms up and see what he does. Dogs that were hit in anger, or for the heck of it, will cower and even run when someone raises their hands or arms in the dog’s presence. Of course, don’t torture the dog by doing this repeatedly if you see him cringe, but it is a good gauge to see if he’s been hit in the past.
   
   
6. See if he has adverse reactions to certain people. Men with cowboy hats, women with bouffants, kids with tricycles. If the dog goes out of his way to avoid a certain type of person for no apparent reason, he may have been abused by someone that looked like that. Something as simple as a baseball cap or pair of boots may trigger this reaction.

	Warning
Dogs may bite out of fear. Be careful when dealing with a dog with an unknown or a past that was potentially abusive.

If you like to see your countries Animal welfare act or bill or wahtever please post the information and i will add it to the post.

The Animal Welfare Act is exactly right Steve! But I'm curious what if you have seen some signs that a dog could be abused but haven't actually seen the dog being abused. How would you know that the humans are causing this or not?