{"id":639124,"date":"2025-12-17T23:38:25","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T23:38:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/639124\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T23:38:25","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T23:38:25","slug":"holyrood-passes-dog-theft-law-in-almost-unanimous-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/639124\/","title":{"rendered":"Holyrood passes dog theft law in almost unanimous vote"},"content":{"rendered":"

DOG theft will become a statutory offence in Scotland, after MSPs voted\u00a0almost unanimously\u00a0to make it law.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The legislation includes penalties of potential prison sentences of up to five years and unlimited fines for those convicted, with the SSPCA calling the bill a \u201csignificant milestone\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The animal rights group said <\/a>that the changes would \u201cstrengthen protections for dogs and help deliver justice for victims across Scotland.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The bill still needs ceremonial royal assent to become an act.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dog theft currently falls under the common law offence of theft, with pets classed as \u201cproperty\u201d which have been taken \u201cwithout the consent of the rightful owner\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

119 MSPs voted for the bill, while two voted against.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"brown<\/a>The legislation increases penalties on dog theft.<\/p>\n

Scottish Conservative MSP Maurice Golden, who introduced the bill<\/a>, said he was \u201cthrilled\u201d that the bill had been passed by\u00a0a majority of\u00a0MPs across parties.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cIt will make\u00a0a huge difference\u00a0to dogs and to the many families across Scotland to whom they are so special.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTo this point, there simply\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0enough deterrence when it came to dog theft.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis strengthening of the law will change\u00a0that and\u00a0help police and other justice authorities clamp down on this disgraceful crime.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to thank all my colleagues who supported this; it shows once again that Holyrood works best when we all work together.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDogs are our best friends and deserve more \u2013 I hope this new law can help deliver that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The two MSPs who voted against the bill were Oliver Mundell of the Scottish Conservatives and Fergus Ewing, who sits as an independent.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

While sources had initially\u00a0said that Oliver Mundell had\u00a0likely voted\u00a0against the bill in error, a spokesperson for the Scottish Conservatives has now confirmed that Mundell voted intentionally against the bill.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ewing had been a member of the SNP <\/a>prior to his suspension of the party earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Mundell and Ewing have been contacted for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The first version of the bill had passed unanimously in October.\u00a0<\/p>\n

An estimated 1,808 dogs were stolen across the UK in 2024, with only one in five returned to its owner, according to Direct Line Pet Insurance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The number peaked during the pandemic, with Direct Line estimating 2,760 thefts in 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n

England and Northern Ireland implemented their own \u201cpet abduction\u201d laws in August, which covers the theft of dogs and cats.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DOG theft will become a statutory offence in Scotland, after MSPs voted\u00a0almost unanimously\u00a0to make it law.\u00a0 The legislation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":639125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,196853,690,1102,4884,26655,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-639124","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-dog-theft","10":"tag-dogs","11":"tag-edinburgh","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-holyrood","14":"tag-scotland","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115737546229152039","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=639124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/639125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=639124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=639124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=639124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}