PET REFORM PETITIONERS NOMINATED FOR AWARD
Agroup of pet theft reform petitioners have been nominated for the Petition Campaign of the Year
Award at the 2022 Your UK Parliament Awards.
The petition ‘Make pet theft crime a specific offence with custodial sentences’ was started by Daniel Allen of Keele University in 2020. The campaign was set up in collaboration with Debbie Matthews, CEO of the Stolen and Missing Pets Alliance, and supported by a number of other animal rights campaigners, including Marc Abraham, founder of the Lucy’s Law campaign to end puppy farming; Freya Woodhall, whose dog Willow was stolen in 2018; Beverley Cuddy, editor of Dogs
Today Magazine; and John Cooper QC.The petition also gained support from celebrities including Clare Balding and Ricky Gervais, and received more than 143,000 signatures.
The 2020 petition followed two earlier petitions, the first in 2018 and second in 2019.
A Parliamentary debate was held on two of Dr
Allen’s petitions in October 2020.Ahead of the debate, campaigners took part in a virtual round table with Tom Hunt MP, the Petitions Committee member who would be leading the debate, to discuss their concerns. Opening the debate, Mr Hunt backed the campaign’s call for a specific offence to be created, and for the relevant sentencing guidelines to be strengthened.
In May 2021, the Government launched its Pet Theft Taskforce to look into a reported rise in thefts, and Dr Allen was invited to give evidence. In September 2021, the Government announced it would make pet abduction a specific criminal offence.
Catherine McKinnell
MP, Chair of the Petitions Committee, says: “These campaigns demonstrate so powerfully how petitions can raise awareness of issues that might otherwise struggle to be heard in Parliament.
“The nominees have each shown how to organise a successful campaign, building on their petitions by gathering support from others affected by the same issue, charities, influential supporters, and the public.
“I have been moved by our nominees’ passion, determination, and ideas for how to tackle the problems they’ve set their minds to, and congratulate them on their achievements.”
The 5th annual Your UK Parliament Awards recognise the individuals across the UK who have taken democratic action on the issues they care about.There are a further seven categories.
The judging panel — which includes MPs, members of the House of Lords, campaigning bodies and past award winners — will be announcing winners in the coming weeks.