Today the Member of Parliament for Eastleigh, Mims Davies, has been in Parliament to support the passage of the ‘Animal Welfare (Service Animals) Bill as it passed Third Reading in the House of Commons, meaning that it will now go on to the House of Lords.
The Bill will give legal protection for the first time to service animals, such as police dogs, and has been named Finn’s Law, after a police dog that was stabbed multiple times after pursuing a robbery suspect.
Commenting, Eastleigh MP Mims Davies said:
“I have had hundreds of constituents support this campaign, and write to me asking me to do the same. As a dog owner myself, I was really shocked to learn that currently someone that attacks a service animal can only be charged with criminal damage – the same as if the animal were a piece of kit like a police radio.
“This law will change that, ensuring that someone that attacks a police animal will have committed an offence, and will be dealt with accordingly. At the same time, I welcome that the Government has promised to put the sentencing up.
“The dog that this law has been named after, Finn, was in Parliament today, and watched from the House of Commons Gallery – not at all distracting! – as this key Bill moved a step further to being written in to law.”
Also commenting, Fair Oak Councillor Steve Broomfield who previously managed the Blue Cross animal charity’s flagship animal hospital, added:
"This is excellent news. In my time at Blue Cross I saw both dogs and horses which had been injured in the course of protecting us and their patient and willing service to humans demands that human law fully cares for them too!"