British woman who set defenseless rabbit on fire receives lenient sentence! Take Action Now!

Stockport, England: A heartless woman that set a defenseless rabbit on fire during a family argument has received what I believe is an extremely lenient sentence. Six years have passed and I am baffled that permissive laws remain the same. I started this petition because the UK’s Animal Welfare Act is completely outdated and must be reviewed as soon as possible. Please support my campaign if you feel the same way.

The perpetrator is 22-year-old Katey Barber. She spent the night at her mother’s home in Stockport, Greater Manchester. After drinking seven cans of lager beer, an argument broke out. Barber went outside and started burning clothers belonging to her mother’s partner. Soon afterwards she shifted her attention to the rabbit that was peacefully sitting in his hutch. The cruel woman prodded the rabbit, dubbed Bunny, with a stick and threw a burning piece of paper into the hutch, before shutting the door. Family members tried to intervene, but Barber swore at them and locked them inside the house. Startled witnesses report that Barber was laughing and shouting ‘Look, the rabbit’s running around in flames’. She ultimately poured water on the animal, who eventually survived the attack, but was left with an amputated ear and deep scares.

Exclusive: Punish thugs that cut dog’s ears off and posed for photos!

At Stockport Magistrates Court, Barber admitted to causing unnecessary suffering to an animal, but stated that the fire was caused by accident and nothing had been, in fact, intentional. Barber was eventually jailed for three months and received a lifetime ban on owning animals.

In my opinion, this is not enough and justice is far from being achieved in this matter. Six years have passed and no review of the Animal Welfare Act has been conducted, which is a true disgrace. According to current laws, the maximum penalty that can be applied for such cases is a jail term of six months (which is almost never handed out in practice). Moreover, in many cases, abusers are even allowed to continue to keep pets, in blatant disregard to the suffering they have caused. I have encountered many cases here in the United Kingdom where abusers have walked away with a slap on the wrist. This must change, because animal lives’ matter. 

We, the undersigned, would like to urge the people in power to review the outdated Animal Welfare Act of 2006 and introduce a mandatory jail sentence of 1 (one) year for every person found guilty of cruelty to animals, in addition to an automatic lifetime ban on owning animals. Futhermore, we demand an implementation of an Animal Abusers Registry, an official document that would be available to the public. Such a list wound act as a safety net to ensure that no person convicted to cruelty to animals would be allowed to own any animals again.

Ask the UK government to start taking animal welfare seriously and strengthen laws to protect animals.