All pet owners love their furry friends. They are an important and much-loved member of the family, in some cases people love their pets more than their kids – after all, pets don’t answer back! While human members of our family can pretty much look after themselves and kidnapping is rare, sadly animal theft and stolen pets are not so rare. Which is why in this blog post we ask the question, is your pet safe from animal theft?
The top three most commonly stolen pets since 2017 were dogs, birds and cats. Below we look into these different pets and how you can ensure that your pet is safe from animal theft.
- Dog Theft
Dogs are known as man’s best friend, but they are also a tempting target for thieves too. 23% of all pet thefts since 2017 have been dogs. In the last year dog thefts rise to 1,155 dogs stolen. However, the average number of thefts per year are 15.5 dogs per 100,000 people. While this number has remained pretty consistent, it has risen by 4.9% in the last five years.
- Bird Theft
You may not have expected to see birds so high up on this list, unless you are a bird owner. The thing about some birds is that they are very rare and very expensive. This makes them a very attractive target for thieves. In the last 5 years more than 2,500 birds were stolen. This is an average of 8 bird thefts per 100,000 people. In 2021 we saw a peak in the number of feathered friends that were stolen with over 1,200 birds stolen. More than 1,500 of these bird theft crimes in the last 5 years were reported in Devon and Cornwall. These are the areas with the highest rates of bird theft.
- Cat Theft
The stealing of cats come in as the third most common animal theft. More than 1,300 of cat thefts took place over the last 5 years. However, cat thefts are on the rise in the last 5 years. This has been an 18% increase in cat thefts since 2017.
So how can we ensure our furry friends are safe from animal theft? There are CCTV surveillance cameras that can be installed to keep an eye on your pet in your home or garden. Intruder alarms can be set too. Some pet owners worry their pet will trigger the alarm when they move. However, this isn’t the case. You can set your alarm to ‘ignore’ pets’ movement and still protect your home and keep your pet safe from animal theft.
Call our home security team to find out more about protecting your home and keeping your furry or feathery family members safe.
