Petition · past parliament
Reclassify the theft of a pet as a specific criminal offence in UK law.
Rejected
11 signatures
What the petition asks
Currently, the law sees dog theft as the same offence as someone stealing your phone or bike. The law should and must reflect the impact the crime has on the victims and that should include the animals and the humans. Dogs are sentient beings, not inanimate objects.
Some police forces throughout the country are recording dog thefts as a petty crime akin to an inanimate object like a laptop. Pet theft rips the heart out of families and wrecks lives. The law must reflect the impact the crime has on the victims.
Why it was rejected
There was already a petition about this issue. Duplicates are rejected so signatures collect in one place.
Timeline
| 7 Jul 2019 | Petition opened for signatures |
| 24 Jul 2019 | Rejected by the Petitions Committee |
Key facts
Signatures
11
Status
Rejected
Rejected
24 Jul 2019
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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.