The campaign to provide legal protection for police dogs and other service animals when attacked in the course of duty will take a big step forward tomorrow, 16 January, when Sir Oliver Heald’s Private Member’s Bill “The Animal Welfare (Service Animals) Bill” has its Committee stage at 10am. The Bill follows a substantial e-petition with over 125,000 signatures following a vicious attack on police dog Finn, who lives in Sir Oliver’s constituency. The court gave the attacker no separate penalty for the serious injuries to Finn, which highlighted weaknesses in the law. Finn was regarded by the court as a piece of police equipment with little value.
Commenting Sir Oliver Heald said
“Today is a big step forward for the campaign and means that Finn’s Law will have a good chance of reaching the statute book this year. I would like to pay tribute to Finn and his police dog handler, PC Dave Wardell as well as Sarah Dixon, who has led the campaign for Finn’s Law.”