English and Welsh Police Law Explained
Jun 23, 2026 · 13 min · 8 segments
In this weeks episode we look at animal cruelty offences under the Animal Welfare Act of 2006, starting with the offence of unnecessary suffering under section 4. The legislation can be found at…
Section 4.
Unnecessary Suffering Section 4 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 creates the offence of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal.
In simple terms, it says you can commit an offence either by directly causing an animal to suffer yourself or by allowing it to happen when you're responsible for that animal.
it can be broken down into four key elements.
Firstly, there must be an act, or a failure to act, that causes an animal to suffer.
Secondly, the person must have known, or at least should reasonably have known, that what they were doing, or not doing, would cause or would likely cause suffering.
Thirdly, the animal must be a protected animal.
Simply speaking, that means animals that are domesticated, under human control, and not living freely in the wild.
And finally, the suffering must be unnecessary.
That part is really where most of these cases are decided, because it isn't just about whether suffering happened, it's about whether it should have happened in the circumstances.
Importantly, this offence doesn't just apply to obvious cruelty.
It also covers neglect.
So someone doesn't need to intend harm for an offence to be made out.
It's enough that they knew, or they should have known, that their actions or inaction would likely lead to suffering.
Section 4.
Unnecessary Suffering Section 4 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 creates the offence of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal.
In simple terms, it says you can commit an offence either by directly causing an animal to suffer yourself or by allowing it to happen when you're responsible for that animal.
it can be broken down into four key elements.
Firstly, there must be an act, or a failure to act, that causes an animal to suffer.
Secondly, the person must have known, or at least should reasonably have known, that what they were doing, or not doing, would cause or would likely cause suffering.
Thirdly, the animal must be a protected animal.
Simply speaking, that means animals that are domesticated, under human control, and not living freely in the wild.
And finally, the suffering must be unnecessary.
That part is really where most of these cases are decided, because it isn't just about whether suffering happened, it's about whether it should have happened in the circumstances.
Importantly, this offence doesn't just apply to obvious cruelty.
It also covers neglect.
So someone doesn't need to intend harm for an offence to be made out.
It's enough that they knew, or they should have known, that their actions or inaction would likely lead to suffering.
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