Full Statute Name:  Welfare of Animals Act (Northern Ireland) 2011

Summary: An Act establishing penalties for engaging in certain activities that are considered detrimental to animal welfare in Northern Ireland. Activities that constitute offences include: causing an animal unnecessary suffering, mutilating an animal’s body, docking a dog’s tail (with certain limited exceptions), administering a poisonous or injurious substance to an animal, and engaging in or attending an animal fight. Activities lawfully done under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, and the normal course of fishing, hunting and (hare) coursing are exempt from the 2011 Act. Hare coursing events have since been banned in separate legislation.