What An Example For a Parent To Set A Child

@ArishMell I have a vague memory of my wife telling me that there was such a distinction, she was a lawyer though not a specialist in that field. Apparently it hinged on the idea that the loss of a working animal has an economic impact on the owner and that the loss of a pet does not.

But it was many years ago so in addition to the possibility that my memory is faulty it is also quite possible that the law has been radically changed in the intervening decades.

@ninalanyon I think that matter of economic value would be taken into consideration by a court of law, but the premise of the offence is the wrongful injuring or killing of any animal. Certainly in all the reported cases I have seen, the monetary value was separate from, but additionally to, the basic charge of cruelty.

That charge can extend to farmers mistreating their livestock although that is thankfully rare - it seems more likely among small-holders unable to cope with small, failing businesses, and the cruelty is more often by neglect than will. Though still serious, of course.

Somewhat similarly with pets kept in appalling conditions, or simply abandoned outdoors somewhere as a sort of living "fly-tipping".

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There is also a lot of unintentional cruelty about by people who would be horrified if they understood that they are doing. The most common examples of such ignorance are feeding bread to swans; and jogging or running lengthy distances with a dog on a lead clipped to the runner.

(Swans are largely vegetarian, eating aquatic plants; and bread is bad for them. Running continuously for long distances is not natural mammalian behaviour - that our own species can make ourselves do that for fun and exercise is not an excuse to enforce it on other animals; and by extension I am uneasy about horse-racing too.)

@ArishMell As I was walking home from the office one afternoon some years ago I passed a young woman jogging. I was very amused to see a tiny short haired chihuahua running in front of her with the lead taut (it was a very light lead clipped to her belt). The dog was clearly capable of outrunning her at that moment. Of course she probably had to pick it up soon afterwards.

@ArishMell what would you have done to the duck killer?,,, i reckon nothing

@beermeplease Done my best to help proper action against her. For a start, or at the least, endeavoured to obtain her car's registration-number, and if the Police had become involved describe what I had witnessed to them.

What did you expect me to say? Turn away so "I saw nothing"?. Or assault her or her wretched dog... in front of her child?