Scottish parliament bid to make dog abduction a new crime

Spaniels have been reported as a high-value target for dog thefts

Proposals to make dog abduction a specific crime in Scotland have been launched at the Scottish Parliament.

Dog theft is currently treated the same as stealing property by courts.

Campaigners say this does not reflect the welfare of animals or the impact of the crime on owners. They hope jail sentences of up to five years would discourage targeted dog thefts.

A 12-week consultation has begun at Holyrood for a new Dog Abduction (Scotland) Bill.

Katie McCandless-Thomas, from the group Missing Pets, Perth and Kinross, said Scotland's existing laws did not go far enough.

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She told BBC Radio's Good morning Scotland that there had been a rise in targeted dog snatching.

"It is every owner's worst nightmare for something to happen to their pet," she said.

"To know someone would deliberately target them, it's so much turmoil, it's life-changing what families go through."

She said the price of puppies had "skyrocketed" during the Covid lockdown.

"A lot of the thefts I helped owners with were of spaniels. They're one of the most expensive puppies to buy.

"If someone's going out to steal a spaniel, if that dog had ten puppies, at £2,000 each, that could be £20,000 from one litter.

"A slap on the wrist and a pathetic jail sentence is not enough of a deterrent when it's that amount of money."

Maurice Golden MSP has campaigned on dog theft and animal welfare

As property, dogs have an associated monetary value that can be used to inform sentencing in court.

But campaigners hope the bill would bring longer sentences in cases where a pet has a relatively low monetary value - for example older dogs.

The proposed legislation comes from Maurice Golden, Scottish Conservative MSP for North East Scotland, who has campaigned on animal theft.

He hopes a new law would align sentencing with animal welfare and wildlife crimes in Scotland, with higher fines and a maximum jail term of five years as a starting point.

He said this would improve data recording of dog thefts, to help detection and prevention of the crime.

'Traumatic and distressing'

Mr Golden suggested that stealing a dog is "no different to stealing a mobile phone" in the eyes of the law.

"Right now in Scotland, the law considers the theft of a dog as if they were just another household commodity," he said.

"But they are worth so much more, and it's time the law reflected that. Anyone who's had a dog stolen will tell you just how traumatic and distressing an experience it is.

"We need to deter criminals from this kind of behaviour and punish severely those who do it."

If MSPs support his proposals, Mr Golden will bring it to Holyrood as a members' bill, as the next step towards it becoming law.