Investigating and reporting animal illegalities ; what is being enforced?

Abstract

Many entities take part in dealing with animal illegalities. This research identified these entities by reviewing their reports and investigating if illegalities increased or decreased over time. The thematic evaluation carried out included the observation of conditions, behaviours and situations. Attempts to understand investigations through theories were also made. This led to discovering what is being enforced or not in the Maltese Islands using the mixed method analysis approach. Reports from 2010 to 2017 available at the Animal Welfare Department were reviewed. Court cases were attended and analysed. 120 hours of participant observation with animal welfare officers were carried out. A list of crime cases and assistance was also obtained from different entities intended to get more knowledge of the different types of illegalities. The documentary analysis involving historical trends, participant observations and cases revealed that animal illegalities have decreased over the years. The five freedoms of an animal showed that one can check the wellbeing of an animal as well as monitor and perceive a case outcome. Many species including CITES animals, reptiles, fish and farm animals were reviewed in the various available reports. But dogs and birds are the species mostly related to animal illegalities. One could further understand the attachment behaviour towards a variety of such species. The findings showed that the prevalent illegalities were breaches of the Conservation of Wild Birds Regulations (hunting and trapping), Animal Welfare Act (Caring of animals) and Veterinary Services Act (Electronic identification). This was revealed by the enforcement made in the followed-up cases, penalties and types of cases including warnings. Even though legislations have improved, there is always a need for more improvement with better enforcement especially when pending court cases are evident.