Cruelty To Wild Animals

EDM number 268 in 1995-96, proposed by Alan Meale on 15/01/1996.

That this House believes it is unacceptable that there is no general legal protection for wild mammals against acts of cruelty; notes that RSPCA inspections have witnessed cases where hedgehogs have been impaled on stakes, used as footballs or burnt on a bonfire, where squirrels have been nailed to a tree whilst still alive and where foxes have been burnt alive and mutilated; is astonished that those who commit such horrendous acts of cruelty escape prosecution because wild mammals are unprotected in law; and believes that the legal protection against acts of cruelty which is given to domestic or captive animals should be extended to wild mammals and that sensible and reasonable legislation to achieve this should be fully supported by this House.

This motion has been signed by a total of 218 MPs.