Dog fighting gang sentenced...

I was very, very relieved when four people involved in "Europe's largest dogfighting syndicates" were convicted on 15th September, I blogged about it here. At the time I wrote about my fear that they wouldn't get custodial sentences, but instead get paltry fines and a couple of hours of community service.

Well I was wrong. They did get custodial sentences. Nothing too severe though, apparently horrendous cruelty to an animal in this country only warrants a maximum six months in jail!

Anyway, Claire Parker, the woman who held the dog fights at her home, was sentenced to only four and a half months in jail and was banned from owning a dog for ten years. The other three were sentenced to between five and a half and six months in jail and banned from owning a dog for life.

I'm pleased, I really am, that they all got jail time. I just don't think it's anywhere near long enough. How can the sentence for a bank robber in this country be anything between 10 and 30 years, depending on the violence used, and yet the most appalling cruelty meted out to animals for days, months and, in some cases, years only warrants six months or LESS in jail. I just don't understand.

Read the full report on the sentencing here.

Oh, and the great pitbull pic is from the fabulous I Can Has Cheezeburger website.