Service dogs attacked or injured on duty in Northern Ireland now have more protection in law after new legislation was passed.
After a four year campaign and a 45,000-name petition, the Animal Welfare (Service Animals) Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 is in place as an amendment to the existing legisaltion.
Now it is an offence to cause unnecessary suffering to a service animal employed by the PSNI, the Northern Ireland Prison Service, Belfast Harbour Police, Belfast International Airport Constabulary and the Ministry of Defence Police. And it means anyone who harms a service dog can no longer claim self-defence as a motive.
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Alex Easton, MLA, who presented the law change proposal to the Stormont Assembly two years ago, said: “I’m passionate about caring for the most vulnerable in society and that includes animals. So I’m delighted that after a huge amount of work by Bernadette Vassallo from Service Animals NI with staff at DAERA, that the legislation change is now in place.
“Police dogs, like all dogs and other service animals are sentient beings and as such should not be treated by mere commodities, but living, feeling beings.
The law change in Northern Ireland was driven by a Service Animals NI campaign and more than 45,000 people signed the petition for change.
The move was based on Finn’s Law, following a campaign by lawyer Sarah Dixon, campaigner Nicola Skelley and Sir Oliver Heald to provide greater protection for service animals after PD Finn was stabbed and seriously injured in 2016 in England.
During the court case, the defendants claimed they were justified in applying force against a service animal in self-defence and claimed that because they had been afraid and acted to defend themselves from Finn, they had not committed the offence of ‘causing unnecessary suffering to an animal’.
Mr Easton said: “Finn’s Law changed that law and today three years on, Northern Ireland’s service dogs now have the same protection thanks to an incredible amount of hard work by Service Animals NI.
“No one who lashes out at a dog working with the PSNI, the NI Prison Service, Belfast Harbour Police, the Airport Constabulary at Aldergrove International Airport or the Ministry of Defence Police, can claim they harmed the animal in fear or in self defence. It’s simply no longer available as a defence in law. The next step is now to push for separate and appropriate sentences for harm done to service animals.
Animal lover Alex Easton, MLA and Pam Cameron, MLA, tabled the motion in the Northern Ireland Assembly calling on the Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to introduce legislation in Northern Ireland similar to Finn’s Law which came into place in England in June 2019.
The motion, debated and agreed by the Assembly on 10 February 2020, received cross-sectoral support, and in March 2022, the bill was granted royal assent making it an Act of Parliament.
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