“We still have a lot of cruel people in our country and this is a little way we can do what we can.”
Abbi Collins has launched a petition(Image: Abbi Collins)
A Gildersome woman has launched a petition to create a register for animal abusers.
Stunt coordinator Abbi Collins came up with the idea to create a national databases that would prevent those convicted of animal abuse from being able to target more. Abbi, who is in her 60s, said she had seen a number of posts relating to animal cruelty throughout the world and felt she had to do something.
She said: “I’m a huge animal lover and follow a number of animal charities worldwide and support them when I came.
“I was absolutely appalled every day about the level of cruelty in the world. My New Year’s Resolution this year was to try and do something about it.
“I came up with the idea for a petition because we don’t have a national database for rescue centres to do background checks on people they give animals to and they may be going to an abusers’ and they can abuse them.”
Abbi said there is no way anyone could know if someone has been convicted of an offence against an animal. “Unless you saw it in the newspaper and remembered that person’s name,” Abbi said. “You wouldn’t know, especially if they hadn’t lived in your area. It’s just like people being banned from driving who still drive.”
Abbi, who is also a qualified riding instructor, said she needs 100,000 signatures for the petition to be put before parliament by her MP. The petition currently has 8,512.
She said: “I have got until August and it runs for six months. If I get 10,000 more a month we will be heading in that direction. I need to give it a boost and then we can get the local MP on board and it will be considered to be tabled by parliament…
“We still have a lot of cruel people in our country but they are in the minority and this is a little way we can do what we can.”
Speaking directly to the public, Abbi, who now lives in Surrey, said people should sign “because animals are still suffering at the hands of cruel humans and we need to do our bit to try and protect them.” She said: “Everyone can do their bit just by signing and sharing the petition.”
You can sign the petition here.
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