Our role in animal cruelty prosecutions
We investigate animal cruelty and, where appropriate, prosecute people who harm animals. The vast majority of our work is about helping owners better care for their pets through advice and support. We don't take the decision to prosecute lightly and follow strict rules.
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Why we prosecute
We investigate and, if appropriate, prosecute people who commit animal cruelty and neglect, to get justice for those animals and prevent it happening in the future. Currently, we carry out 85% of all prosecutions under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
We don’t take the decision to prosecute lightly. Wherever possible, we work with owners, offering advice and support to help them better care for their pets. Less than 1% of cruelty complaints we receive result in a prosecution.
We follow the same guidelines as the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) when bringing a prosecution – there has to be sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of securing a prosecution and it has to be in the public interest. Our prosecution success rate is more than 90%, higher than the CPS. We have a number of extra checks and balances to ensure our prosecutions are fair and robust.
The prosecution process
When an alleged offence has been reported to us, our specialist investigations team will look into it. If there is sufficient evidence, they will prepare a case file for the prosecutions team.
Can the RSPCA prosecute?
We don’t have any statutory powers to investigate or prosecute animal welfare offences. Our prosecutions are private prosecutions, which are permitted by law. Anyone can bring a private prosecution.
As we have no statutory powers, our inspectors often work with other agencies like police or local authorities who have the powers to enter a property, enforce licensing conditions or get a warrant to go into a property and seize animals.
However, we have 200 years of experience prosecuting animal welfare offences and prosecute around 85% of offences under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. Our prosecutions have a 94% success rate, which is higher than the CPS.
How we prosecute
When our prosecutions team receives a case, we:
- Review the evidence.
- Work with our inspectors to resolve any legal or evidential issues.
- Using CPS guidelines, decide whether to proceed with a prosecution.
- Instruct independent solicitors and, where necessary, barristers to advise and present the case to court.
Wherever we can, we try to work with owners to improve their animals' care but sometimes, when an animal is in danger or the level of cruelty and neglect is high, we will prosecute. Prosecuting the worst cruelty and neglect gets justice for the animals and helps prevent further suffering.
¹Prosecution Statistics – Operational Statistics 2025
Investigating organised crimes
Suspect animal cruelty?
Call us in confidence on 0300 123 8960 or report it to the police.
The future of prosecutions
In our strategy, we announced that we’ll be exploring transferring our prosecution work to the CPS. We’ll continue to carry out our vital work investigating cruelty and neglect, but passing prosecutions to the CPS will free us up to focus our resources on our specialist rescue and investigation work.
Thanks to the success of our campaigning to increase sentences for the worst animal welfare abuse, offenders can now receive up to five years in prison.
Alongside this, many of the cases we are dealing with involve hardened criminal gangs, involved in organised animal cruelty offences like cock fighting and puppy farming, or include other complex non-animal welfare offences like fraud. This is a big responsibility for a charity and is more appropriately dealt with by the CPS, which is the government body with statutory responsibility for prosecuting crime. Read more about this.
We’re currently in discussion with the UK Government about transferring prosecutions to the CPS. We’re committed to continuing to get justice for animals until this transfer happens.
Justice for animals
How we get justice for animals
Thanks to our investigations and prosecutions teams, thousands of animals have been saved from cruelty, and abusers prosecuted.
