Prevention of harm

8Fighting etc.

I1I21

A person commits an offence if he—

a

causes an animal fight to take place, or attempts to do so;

b

knowingly receives money for admission to an animal fight;

c

knowingly publicises a proposed animal fight;

d

provides information about an animal fight to another with the intention of enabling or encouraging attendance at the fight;

e

makes or accepts a bet on the outcome of an animal fight or on the likelihood of anything occurring or not occurring in the course of an animal fight;

f

takes part in an animal fight;

g

has in his possession anything designed or adapted for use in connection with an animal fight with the intention of its being so used;

h

keeps or trains an animal for use for in connection with an animal fight;

i

keeps any premises for use for an animal fight.

I1I22

A person commits an offence if, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, he is present at an animal fight.

3

A person commits an offence if, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, he—

a

knowingly supplies a video recording of an animal fight,

b

knowingly publishes a video recording of an animal fight,

c

knowingly shows a video recording of an animal fight to another, or

d

possesses a video recording of an animal fight, knowing it to be such a recording, with the intention of supplying it.

4

Subsection (3) does not apply if the video recording is of an animal fight that took place—

a

outside Great Britain, or

b

before the commencement date.

5

Subsection (3) does not apply—

a

in the case of paragraph (a), to the supply of a video recording for inclusion in a programme service;

b

in the case of paragraph (b) or (c), to the publication or showing of a video recording by means of its inclusion in a programme service;

c

in the case of paragraph (d), by virtue of intention to supply for inclusion in a programme service.

F16

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I1I27

In this section—

  • “animal fight” means an occasion on which a protected animal is placed with an animal, or with a human, for the purpose of fighting, wrestling or baiting;

  • ‘ “commencement date” means the date on which subsection (3) comes into force;

  • “information society services” has the meaning given in Article 2(a) of Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce in the Internal Market (Directive on electronic commerce);

  • “programme service” has the same meaning as in the Communications Act 2003 (c. 21);

  • “video recording” means a recording, in any form, from which a moving image may by any means be reproduced and includes data stored on a computer disc or by other electronic means which is capable of conversion into a moving image.

I1I28

In this section—

a

references to supplying or publishing a video recording are to supplying or publishing a video recording in any manner, including, in relation to a video recording in the form of data stored electronically, by means of transmitting such data;

b

references to showing a video recording are to showing a moving image reproduced from a video recording by any means.