ANIMAL CRUELTY MUST BE PUNISHED

The RSPCA issued a statement this past week confirming they will prosecute the police officer who left two German Shepherds to die in his hot car. The Nottingham based dog handler showed a tragic lack of judgment and will be charged with causing unnecessary suffering. The unnamed male officer, if convicted, could face up to six months in prison and/or a fine of £20,000. Under the terms of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 this is the maximum sentence that can be imposed.

After leaving his dogs to perish, only yards from a new set of kennels, his negligence certainly deserves punishment. History though leads me to believe that this man will get off relatively lightly. British courts have bore witness to some extremely sickening cases of animal cruelty in this past year alone and rarely has the sentencing ever fitted the crime.

Take the case of Declan Baker for example. The 18 year old Forfar local attended his towns Sheriff Court in February and admitted that in October last year, after drinking heavily, he placed a four week old kitten in a microwave oven and cooked it for about ten seconds. Horrified witnesses rescued the convulsing cat from a lengthier ordeal but vets later determined its injuries were too severe and put it down.

Baker received 120 hours community service and a ban on keeping animals lasting seven years. He was also ordered to pay £150 compensation as way of covering the vet bill. His punishment falls well short of the potential six month jail sentence and £20,000 fine he could have faced. This apparent unwillingness to punish cases of animal cruelty fully can have devastating consequences.

In October 2006 the RSPCA successfully prosecuted horse trader James Gray for causing unnecessary suffering to one of his animals. He was fined £3,500 and ordered to pay £7,871 in costs but unfortunately he was not disqualified from keeping horses. Had James Gray been banned the RSPCA would surely not have witnessed, on a return visit, “one of the worst cases of neglect” it had ever seen.

For in January 2008 inspectors from the animal charity discovered thirty-two carcasses of horses, donkeys and ponies. Some remains were actually found in pens alongside live animals. Those equines still alive, around a hundred or so, were found in varying states of discomfort. According to witnesses they lacked food, dry bedding and were crammed into pens laden with their own excrement. The stench of decomposition and urine was said to be overpowering.

The court also heard how James Gray (45), and his son of the same name (16), dragged an emaciated horse, kicking it on the way, to a nearby trailer. Tied up and solitary the horse suffered an indignant end. The contempt the Grays held for the animal, no longer of use to them, was obvious and it was their neglect that created this situation in the first instance. Both were charged with nine counts of causing unnecessary suffering and two charges of failing to protect animals from pain, injury, suffering and disease.

James Gray Senior was jailed for six months and told to pay £400,000 in costs and finally handed a life time ban on keeping, trading in, or transporting horses. The RSPCA, satisfied with the sentencing, must have been dismayed to discover that this contemptible man would actually only spend a total of four days behind bars. Having appealed the decision Gray was granted bail on the condition he does not have any interactions with horses while at the farm. A term already part of his original sentencing.

Given Gray's horrific crimes a six month jail term just does not seem like justice. The fact legal wrangling has prevented even this short stint is laughable. The law as it stands dictates that animal cruelty, even at its most despicable, only deserves a half-year sentence. The SSPCA have attempted to address this situation with their First Strike Scotland campaign. Research has proved that a person who has carried out crimes against animals could be at an increased risk of harming humans. The animal charity therefore believe in these cases detainment should be increased.

Cat killer Anthony John Docherty, 23, of Clarkston, Glasgow was believed to be a danger to humans following his depraved attacks. He admitted to seven animal cruelty charges, ranging from pulling the tail off one terrified moggie and decapitating others. Police actually discovered him torturing two in his room, their paws bound with tape to avoid retaliation. They also found three cat skulls in his garden. The authorities had been alerted to a possible situation after a neighbour discovered a similar corpse nearby with its head and tail missing. The full extent of the cruelty inflicted by Docherty is repulsive and makes for a harrowing read. His punishment for these crimes?

Eight months in prison and a life time ban from keeping animals!

Bearing the First Strike campaign in mind the judge ruled these actions deserved only a further two months imprisonment on top of the maximum punishment decreed. No wonder the neglect and abandonment of British animals is reaching epic levels. Our judiciary system, by failing to properly condemn the worst extents of animal cruelty, is not providing a sufficient deterrent.