The Council has today published updated sentencing guidelines for animal cruelty offences, following consultation.

The revised guidelines reflect the change in maximum penalty for the most serious cases of animal cruelty brought in by the Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021.

The changes introduce:

• a new ‘Animal cruelty’ guideline for the most serious offences, including causing unnecessary suffering, tail docking and animal fighting. This guideline applies in both magistrates’ courts and Crown Court, and
• an updated guideline, ‘Failure to ensure animal welfare’, which revises elements of the Council’s existing animal cruelty sentencing guideline. This guideline will continue to apply to magistrates’ courts only because the maximum penalty for this offence has not changed and remains within magistrates’ sentencing powers

Both guidelines, which apply to adults only, will come into effect on 1 July 2023.