Poll: Should there be tougher sentences for those guilty of animal cruelty?

Battersea Dogs & Cats Home (BDCH) will launch a campaign on Monday aiming to get the "shocking" six-month maximum custodial term raised, saying England and Wales lag behind most other western nations in penalising abusers.

Raising the maximum sanction to five years in prison would put England and Wales on a par with Northern Ireland and Ireland. In Scotland the current maximum is a year.

Defra figures show the average prison term for someone convicted of animal cruelty is 3.3 months.

BDCH chief executive Claire Horton said: "It isn't acceptable that our courts are unable to hand out tougher sentences in such extreme animal cruelty cases, yet the likes of fly-tipping can result in prison sentences of up to five years.

"So let's get this into proportion and let the punishment for abusing animals truly fit the crime."

In a report released on Monday, BDCH said England and Wales have among the most lenient sentences for animal cruelty when compared to European countries and states in the US and Australia.

The six-month maximum puts England and Wales on a par with Belgium, Macedonia and the US states Idaho and Mississippi.

But the BDCH says it lags behind countries like Latvia (five years) and Finland (four years), the US states of Connecticut and Louisiana (both 10 years) and Queensland (seven years).

The report concludes: "The Animal Welfare Act was a landmark piece of legislation in 2006, but it is now 10 years old and its provisions for dealing with animal cruelty have been overtaken by progressive legislation in Europe and the USA.

"Battersea's evidence suggests that the public wishes us to keep pace with these other countries.

"Most jurisdictions now enable a much wider range of sentencing options for the court, recognising the very different types and severity of offence.

"They include the possibility of a lengthy prison sentence, fine and disqualification from keeping animals.

"A momentum has built up in many countries for ensuring the punishment for animal cruelty fits the crime."

The campaign launch comes ahead of a debate in Parliament on the subject. The discussion of a Private Member's Bill by Anna Turley, the Labour MP for Redcar, will take place on February 24.

According to figures from Defra, 936 people were sentenced for offences relating to animal cruelty under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 in 2016, the most recent year for which statistics are available.

Of those, 91 received an immediate custodial sentence, with the average length 3.3 months. A further 202 offenders were given a suspended sentence and 341 received a community sentence. Some 177 offenders were punished with a fine, with the average being £244.

A report in November by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee on animal welfare recommended increasing the maximum prison sentence to five years.

Defra, responding to the committee in January, said: "Current sentencing practice for offences of animal cruelty in the Animal Welfare Act 2006 does not suggest that the courts are finding current sentencing powers inadequate."

A spokesman added on Monday that the Government "shares the public's high regard for animal welfare" and kept the "strict" legislation under regular review.