Good evening folks , we write this as a reminder to everyone as to why this campaign was set up. We came together to call on those in Authority that we are not satisfied in how the current Animal Welfare legislation is being implemented here in Northern Ireland and to vent our disgust and anger that Animal cruelty and neglect cases was not taken seriously by the courts. Although we are pushing for change we feel at this point we havent seen anything that stands out within the law that warrants any solid improvement and still believe those who are guilty of neglect and causing animal suffering are not being handed down appropriate sentences in accordance to the law. We have seen a mother and son receive a 12 month conditional discharge for starving their dog to death and we urged you guys to contact the justice minister to vent your dissatisfaction on how lenient the sentence was, which in our opinion was worse than a suspended sentence We have an Animal Welfare Legislation that could be one of the best however we still do not believe it is implemented to the best of its ability and we still have a long way to go yet. We have seen cases where neglectful owners state their case in court that their pet suffered as they were depressed others categorically denying any wrong doing , some will still protest their innocence and claim to be the victim right up until the day of the trial and they eventually plead guilty . Even then the punishment is a farce. We have seen many cases in which we believe warranted a custodial sentence in accordance to the welfare act and yet we have seen our justice system let them leave court laughing in the face of the animals they abuse. DUP and other political parties have asked for an Animal Abuse register to be set up to record those guilty of causing animal suffering , as at this point regular offenders who are reported on a regular basis are still neglecting animals and slipping through the net. While we agree there are 2 sides to every story we would expect those in authority to act on evidence presented before them as opposed to what they were told This campaign was set up because the law is an ass , that Animal Welfare cases from ground level to the court were failing either along the way or when they got there and the justice system was and still is failing to punish those guilty of Animal cruelty and Neglect. This campaign was not set up because we were satisfied on how our Animal Welfare Legislation was implemented. This campaign was set up on your behalf as we were and still are sick sore and tired of Animal Welfare not being taken seriously here and to be honest we arent sure much has changed. That still stands
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 20:11:30 +0000