Prosecution in the UK
As a last resort, we work with other organisations to prosecute owners.
We still see an alarming amount of deliberate or prolonged neglect and cruelty and, in cases like this, we won’t hesitate to work with other agencies such as the RSPCA and Trading Standards to bring about a prosecution case.
If someone has deliberately caused, or knowingly allowed, a horse to suffer, we will do what we can to bring them to justice and ensure they never do the same again. Although we do not undertake prosecution cases ourselves, we will work alongside other organisations who do. We will provide support such as taking the horses into our care and giving evidence in court.
The vast majority of prosecution cases we are involved in are under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. This legislation is a significant improvement on the Animals Act 1911 which we worked under until the new law came into force. However, there are still limitations on what we can achieve and in some situations this can lead to the perception that nothing is being done.
Although we are unable to go into detail about individual situations, we are always happy to talk to people in general terms about how the Animal Welfare Act works, and would encourage people to contact us if they have any queries.
