The Cat Theft Report 2022 - The Summary

 The Summary

“Stealing pets is evil and depraved. It brings profound unhappiness. It cannot and will not be tolerated”.

Rt Hon Priti Patel MP, Home Secretary

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Contents

Preface

Main Findings

Pet Abduction Offence

Is Cat Theft Being Afforded Sufficient Priority by Our Police?

Recorded Cat Thefts by Police Authority

Prosecutions and Cautions

Cat Breeds being Targeted

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Preface

Pet Theft Awareness is an organisation dedicated to highlighting the growing threat of pet abduction within the public and parliamentary consciousness. Originally founded in 2013 by Richard Jordan and Arnot Wilson, they were subsequently joined by Toni Clarke following the theft of her much-loved Siamese cat, Clooney, when it became apparent there was a lack of official recognition of the theft of family cats by those in authority.

The Cat Theft Report 2022 is the result of evidence-based research using data gathered year-on-year under a Freedom of Information request to all UK police forces. It spans the period 2015-2021 and aims to bring the theft of cats under greater scrutiny. Very little data on the subject had previously existed and it seemed to us that if we were ever to sharpen our claws when it comes to legislation this needed to be addressed. 

In 2021, the burgeoning rise in dog abduction during the Pandemic dominated the headlines, with the public, media and police all focusing their attention on the heinous theft of our canine friends. It left us wondering whether this had created the opportunity for cat theft to become an increasingly invisible crime. On receipt of the latest figures we now have our answer: Our cats were most certainly a target too, with recorded cat theft soaring by an alarming 40% in the last 12 months. 

This hugely concerning figure sits uncomfortably alongside the government’s decision to exclude cats from the forthcoming Pet Abduction Offence in the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill, particularly as statistical data seems to have formed the basis of its reasoning for limiting this offence solely to dogs. If stolen therefore, this means our beloved family cats will still be treated as inanimate objects in court under the Theft Act 1968, with their sentience and intrinsic value not fully recognised. After years in which Pet Theft Awareness has campaigned for the theft of all our pets to be recognised as a specific crime in its own right, it concerns us that the Government has failed to grasp that ALL pets are family. The owners of abducted cats are every bit as devastated as those with stolen dogs.

This is all the more surprising given that much of the narrative throughout the Pet Theft Taskforce Report appears to be in full support of an inclusive pet abduction offence. It is very much recognised that sentience and the capacity to suffer are not limited to dogs.

“The creation of a new offence of pet abduction is absolutely the right approach because it recognises that pets are more than mere property that can often be replaced, but sentient beings. It acknowledges not only the owner’s loss but also reflects the worry and anxiety that can be caused through the uncertainty of the safety and well-being of a loved friend and member of the family”. Robert Buckland QC MP, then Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (from Pet Theft Taskforce Report, 2021).

Furthermore, we are concerned that restricting the protections afforded by the proposed Pet Abduction offence solely to dogs may have unintended consequences: namely altering the risk/reward trade off and so making the theft of family cats and pets of other species more attractive to thieves.

This report provides invaluable data about the sharply rising trend in cat theft across the country as well as highlighting the disparate nature of police attitudes and their recording systems. 

Our belief is that the evidence-based research and analysis contained within this report more than justifies the inclusion of cats in the proposed Pet Abduction legislation. 

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Main Findings

The Pet Abduction Offence: Why we believe the Government is wrong to exclude our feline friends?

So what is the rationale for limiting the pet theft offence to dogs? It appears to be just a question of numbers; more specifically, the often-cited statistic that seven out of 10 thefts are dogs. However, closer inspection reveals that this headline figure relates solely to the Metropolitan Police area and spans the entire 10-year period since the Met first established its Dashboard in 2012. Crucially it ignores the rapidly changing dynamic that has seen cats increasingly becoming the target of thieves over time. Indeed, the Metropolitan Police Dashboard reveals that recorded cat theft has risen from just 19 in 2012 to 234 in 2021—a twelve-fold increase. In fact if we turn the spotlight on this year's figures, the Met reports a shocking increase of 74% in the London area over the last 12 months! On this basis, fewer than six in 10 recorded thefts were dogs, whilst more than three in 10 were cats. The composition of pet theft crime is therefore clearly changing. We are challenging the Taskforce on this one: Shouldn't any report worth its salt be looking at trends rather than rounded up aggregate figures?  

Whilst this data is extremely important in ensuring that the theft of our family cats can be thrown into the parliamentary spotlight alongside our canine companions, anyone who acknowledges the capacity of our family pets to feel traumatised when stolen surely should be focusing on sentience rather than statistics. Should it really matter whether six or seven out of 10 stolen pets are dogs, cats or horses; what matters is that 10 out of 10 suffer equally - as do their owners. The proposed Pet Abduction Offence should be there to protect dogs, cats and all kept animals by acting as a deterrent to the vile crime of pet theft that causes immeasurable misery and harm.  

We recognise that the inclusion of enabling powers in the Bill theoretically facilitates the extension of the offence to other species of companion animal at some point in the future. However, in practice this process is likely to be costly, cumbersome and arduous as it requires the consent of both parliamentary chambers. Much simpler therefore to widen the scope now to include cats before the offence is written into law. 

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Is cat theft being afforded sufficient priority by our police? 

Given that as a nation we save a space on our sofas for an estimated 12 million cats*, our suspicion remains that the aggregate figures continue to understate the extent of cat theft as recorded by the police, despite our figures for 2021 showing a startling annual increase of 40%. If we further consider that in the 12 months to end-September 2021 total theft and burglary actually declined by 18% and 21% respectively**, the surge in the number of cat thefts is even more concerning. The total for 2021 of 560 is more than four times higher than was recorded just seven years previously in 2015.

Notes:    * PFMA Survey 2021
              ** Crime Survey for England & Wales

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Annual Recorded Cat Theft Crimes by Police Authority 2015-21

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Cat Theft Data by Police Force: A Disparate Picture 

One of our aims was to establish whether our police forces were recording cases of cat theft and whether there appeared to be any consistency in process and policy. Our results show that there certainly seems to be a wide and ever-increasing divergence.

As part of the discussion surrounding the Pet Abduction Offence, pet theft data from the Metropolitan Police has received a lot of attention. Indeed, The Met accounted for more than 40% of all recorded cat thefts last year. Undoubtedly the quality and detail of the data collected and maintained by the Met is streets ahead of any other police force in the country. However, West Yorkshire and Kent are also worthy of mention, accounting for 10% and 7% of cat thefts respectively. 

At the other end of the spectrum, there were several forces who recorded NO cases of cat theft at all in a whole year – and some for consecutive years. Derbyshire, South Wales, Gloucestershire and Northamptonshire returned an incredulous zero for 2021—can they really be cat crime-free zones? We are far from convinced. Infinitely more compelling is the conclusion that it's just not possible that these are perfectly law abiding areas of the UK when it comes to stealing cats, rather that they represent worrying regions of police indifference or disbelief.

There is increasing evidence that some police forces are actually de-prioritising cat theft. In 2021, West Midlands Police became the latest constabulary declining to provide us with information, joining Staffordshire Police, Greater Manchester Police, Police Scotland, North Wales, Hampshire and Thames Valley who have opted out in previous years.

In common with the recommendations of the Pet Theft Taskforce Report, we believe that pressure should be brought to bear on ALL police forces in the UK to provide the requested information. This would help form as clear a picture as possible about the true scale and nature of cat theft in this country. If our family felines were included alongside dogs in the proposed Pet Abduction Offence the police would be obliged to collect and store such data routinely.   

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Which are the Forces to be reckoned with when it comes to prosecutions and cautions?

When it comes to taking cat thieves to court in 2021, despite 560 crimes recorded, there were only TWO prosecutions across all of the forces and just four police cautions. Combined, this represents barely 1% of recorded thefts. 

This looks bleak enough as a deterrent to stealing a cat, but when the figures are analysed for trends it’s been very much a deteriorating picture. In 2015 when our data was first collected, 3.3% of cat thefts resulted in prosecutions, with the following four years seeing a steady decline to a staggering zero in 2019. Thanks to the Metropolitan Police there was a strong rebound in 2020 (11 out of 13 prosecutions), but this has slumped to just two prosecutions in 2021, equivalent to a minuscule 0.35% of cat thefts. 

Taking the last seven years as a whole (2015-2021), just 1.2% of all recorded cat thefts resulted in prosecutions, with a further 1.5% of cases resulting in a police caution.

25 out of 39 forces have failed to prosecute a single case in the last seven years.

Our aim is to encourage all authorities to understand that cats can be, and are being, stolen. It is clear that the theft of dogs is a major concern; they are not legally allowed to wander and therefore theft is largely unambiguous, making it far easier to convince police that a dog who has disappeared is a dog who has been purposefully stolen. Dog theft figures bear witness to this. By contrast, cats enjoy freedoms that put them at risk of vanishing and herein lies our reason for the suspiciously low cat theft figures. However, a right to roam is hardly licence for the police to dismiss  our claims of theft – as personal testimonies suggest. Our family cats can also fall victim to the particularly insidious and invisible crime of ‘Theft by Finding’ whereby someone assumes possession without taking reasonable measures to find the true owner. Whilst difficult to quantify, we are certain that the true scale of the theft of our family cats is potentially huge. In the absence of the legal protections that the Pet Abduction Offence would confer as with dogs, there will be little incentive for those who either overtly steal, or furtively ‘adopt’, to think twice. It is our fear that this concerning trend can only continue to rise.

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Are valuable cats being targeted?

Pedigree cats have been targeted by thieves for breeding, or re-sale if found to be neutered, particularly the breeds that are distinctive or identifiable. 2021 saw a sharp rise in the number of Bengal cats stolen, now 25% of all those recorded by breed/type.  Interestingly, there was also a significant increase in Tabbies stolen, the coat pattern of whom can often be mistaken for the highly-valued Bengal.

Given that pedigree kittens can sell for upwards of £500 and pet theft is still largely dealt with in the Magistrates Court, with penalties often a small fine at best, it is a low risk, high reward crime. With prices rising, there is a serious need for changes to the law to protect our precious companions.

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Pet Theft Awareness: Arnot Wilson, Toni Clarke & Richard Jordan at Westminster, July 2018

Toni Clarke and stolen Clooney

“One of the recommendations that we will be developing further is the introduction of a new pet abduction offence, reflecting the fact that pets are not just property.”

George Eustace MP, Secretary of State, DEFRA.

The full Cat Theft Report 2022 is available at: 
https://pettheftawareness.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-cat-theft-report-2022.html

Please sign our important government petition: Extend the new dog abduction theft offence to cover cats and all kept animals.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/602349

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