22 Nov 2024
David Martin warns of “massive correlation” between abuse of animals and children and argues it’s “about time” professions began to speak out about the issue.
Allister Webb
Job Title
David Martin of the IVC Evidensia Welfare Working Group.
The veterinary sector must do more to highlight and tackle the “taboo subject” of animals being sexually abused, according to a senior clinician.
A new campaign for action, including legislative reform, is expected to be launched in the coming weeks following a hard-hitting discussion of the topic at the London Vet Show.
The initiative is set to be led by the Animal Related Crime Working Group, whose founder members include IVC Evidensia group head of animal welfare David Martin.
Addressing delegates at the 14 November session, he warned of a “massive correlation” between the abuse of animals and children and argued it was “about time” the professions began to speak out about the issue.
He said: “As a profession, the sexual abuse of animals is a taboo subject. But we need to stop treating it as a taboo subject.
“We need to be more willing to talk about this, to be more willing to stand up and diagnose this where it is occurring.”
Although current published data appears limited, a total of 27 people are known to have been convicted of having sexual intercourse with an animal – a specific offence under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 – in England and Wales between 2007 and 2016.
But other types of sexual activity are not covered by the present legislation and an online petition demanding the outlawing of all sexual contact with animals failed to reach the 10,000-signature threshold required for a formal response from the then UK Government before it was closed in early 2021.
Although group leaders say they recognise the challenges of building support for change by discussing such a disturbing topic, Dr Martin argued that the law didn’t make sense in its present form, particularly because of the sector’s previous failure to engage with it. He said: “It looks like it was written in Victorian times. That is because the veterinary profession does not talk about the really, really serious sexual abuse of animals.”
As well as widening the law’s scope to cover all types of sexual activity, Dr Martin said increased sentencing powers, including the capacity for offenders to be banned from keeping animals under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, were also necessary.
But he cautioned: “That is only going to happen if the veterinary profession takes its head out of the sand and does something about it.”
Dr Martin highlighted the findings of previous research that indicated 38% of convicted child sex offenders reported being involved in the sexual abuse of animals and 73% of offenders found to be in possession of indecent images of children also had material depicting the sexual abuse of animals.
A separate study found that 85% of charges for possession of extreme pornographic images also related to animals.
He further warned of a need for greater understanding of the issue among police and highlighted a case where a dog had remained with an abusive owner for three years as officers were not aware that they could seize the animal.
He said: “We have got to train our police officers to realise the powers they have under the Animal Welfare Act.”
Speaking from the floor, RSPCA chief vet Caroline Allen said her organisation’s officers did not have the same seizure powers that their counterparts in Scotland did, though they can alert police to cases.
