Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps she has taken to work to reduce instances of crime against animals.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government has taken steps to reduce crime against animals. We have provided over £800,000 in additional funding to the National Wildlife Crime Unit and the National Rural Crime Unit to strengthen enforcement against offences such as poaching and illegal wildlife trade. There are strong penalties in place for offences committed against wildlife and kept animals. For kept animals we have Penalty Notices for Animal Health and Welfare Offences, giving enforcement bodies a proportionate tool for lower-level breaches. For serious animal welfare offences courts can now impose up to five years’ imprisonment for the most serious cruelty offences under the Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act. These measures improve deterrence and ensure justice.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department plans to take to help tackle animal beatings in Cambridgeshire.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner

Enforcement of animal welfare standards is primarily delivered through the powers available under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, which makes it an offence to cause any animal unnecessary suffering or to fail to provide for its welfare.

The Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021 amended the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to increase the sentences available to our courts for the most serious cases of animal cruelty. Anyone who is cruel to an animal face being sent to prison for up to five years, or receiving an unlimited fine, or both.

Local authorities have powers under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to intervene where an animal is suspected to be suffering on any land, public or private.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the Vet Times's article entitled Animal beating reported ‘once every 15 minutes’ – RSPCA, published on 22 August 2025.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner

Cruelty to animals is unacceptable. The Government keeps animal welfare policy under review and is committed to ensuring that animals are protected from unnecessary suffering.

Enforcement of animal welfare standards is primarily delivered through the powers available under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, which makes it an offence to cause any animal unnecessary suffering or to fail to provide for its welfare.

The Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021 amended the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to increase the sentences available to our courts for the most serious cases of animal cruelty. Anyone who is cruel to an animal faces being sent to prison for up to five years, or receiving an unlimited fine, or both.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of the legal (a) sale and (b) possession of catapults on animal welfare.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 protects all wild birds and some wild animals in England and Wales. While it does not specifically include catapults in the list of weapons that must not be used to kill wildlife, it is still illegal to deliberately attempt to kill, injure, or harm protected species, whether by using a catapult or any other harm-causing device. There are a range of other offences found in further legislation to protect wildlife from cruelty such as the Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996. Where pets and livestock are concerned, it is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to cause an animal any unnecessary suffering. The Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021 increased the sentences available for the most serious cases of animal cruelty by increasing the maximum penalty for this offence to 5 years’ imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine.

The Government takes crimes against animals seriously. While Defra is keeping the law in this area under review, existing powers are already available for the police to tackle the misuse of catapults and there are therefore no current plans for further assessment of the legal (a) sale and (b) possession of catapults.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to address the use of catapults in causing suffering to (a) pets and (b) wild mammals.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 protects all wild birds and some wild animals in England and Wales. While it does not specifically include catapults in the list of weapons that must not be used to kill wildlife, it is still illegal to deliberately attempt to kill, injure, or harm protected species, whether by using a catapult or any other harm-causing device. There are a range of other offences found in further legislation to protect wildlife from cruelty such as the Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996. Where pets and livestock are concerned, it is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to cause an animal any unnecessary suffering. The Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021 increased the sentences available for the most serious cases of animal cruelty by increasing the maximum penalty for this offence to 5 years’ imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine.

The Government takes crimes against animals seriously. While Defra is keeping the law in this area under review, existing powers are already available for the police to tackle the misuse of catapults and there are therefore no current plans for further assessment of the legal (a) sale and (b) possession of catapults.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has any plans to review the regulation of catapults in relation to animal welfare concerns.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 protects all wild birds and some wild animals in England and Wales. While it does not specifically include catapults in the list of weapons that must not be used to kill wildlife, it is still illegal to deliberately attempt to kill, injure, or harm protected species, whether by using a catapult or any other harm-causing device. There are a range of other offences found in further legislation to protect wildlife from cruelty such as the Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996. Where pets and livestock are concerned, it is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to cause an animal any unnecessary suffering. The Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021 increased the sentences available for the most serious cases of animal cruelty by increasing the maximum penalty for this offence to 5 years’ imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine.

The Government takes crimes against animals seriously. While Defra is keeping the law in this area under review, existing powers are already available for the police to tackle the misuse of catapults and there are therefore no current plans for further assessment of the legal (a) sale and (b) possession of catapults.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of legislation for (a) deterring and (b) prosecuting people who attack (i) wildlife and (ii) livestock with catapults; and whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to help tackle this.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 protects all wild birds and some wild animals in England and Wales. While it does not specifically include catapults in the list of weapons that must not be used to kill wildlife, it is still illegal to deliberately attempt to kill, injure, or harm protected species. There are a range of other offences found in further legislation to protect wildlife from cruelty such as the Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996. Where livestock is concerned, it is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to cause an animal any unnecessary suffering. The Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021 increased the sentences available for the most serious cases of animal cruelty by increasing the maximum penalty for this offence to 5 years’ imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine.

The Government takes crimes against animals seriously but there is already sufficient legislation in place which protects them from targeted use of catapults. Defra therefore has no current plans to take further steps to tackle the use of catapults and nor does the Home Office have plans to change the law to make a catapult a specified prohibited weapon.