Geographies of Pet Theft
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The geographies of pet theft research team was started by Dr Daniel Allen (Keele University). The aim of the project is to explore the prevalence of pet theft and experiences of those whose pets have been stolen, whilst contributing to a real campaign on the issue of pet theft.
The project, led by Daniel Allen, is multi-disciplinary and involves another geographer, Dr Adam Peacock (University of Exeter), and Dr Helen Selby-Fell (Open University Policing and Criminology).
Paper in Animals
Presentation at The All Party Parliamentary Group for Dog Welfare
Still from my appearance on BBC Scot The Nine.
The initial start of the campaign was led by Daniel Allen and SAMPA, and led to the publication of three pet theft petitions (2018, 2019, 2020) which all received other 100,000 signatures.
The research aimed to contribute to these campaigns through peer-reviewed research on pet theft.
Our first paper “The spatialities of dog theft: A critical perspective”, aimed to explore the prevalence of dog theft in England and Wales. We found that yearly (2015-2018) dog theft crimes increased whilst court related charges decreased. We that a universal system for recording dog theft is needed and that we need to understand people’s experiences of dog theft.
The paper was published in Animals (impact factor 3.00) and has 31,000 views (10th most in the journal) and (currently) 5 citations.
In 2019 we presented our findings at the All-Party Parliamentary Dog Advisory Welfare Group. The talk took place at parliament and was attended by stakeholders and MPs.
Since this presentation our paper has been used to advise the campaign and a follow up report by Allen and Selby-Fell and a UK gov Pet Task Force Report.
In April 2019 I appeared on BBC Scot The Nine to talk about dog theft in a Scottish context.
In early 2021 I gave a talk to Dog A.I.D. clients about Dog Theft.
In September 2021, the Taskforce published its recommendations on how to effectively tackle and prevent pet theft in England and Wales.
Our second paper examines the emotional and social impacts of a pet being lost or stole and how people go about searching for a lost and stolen pet. This work is available in The Geographical Journal.
Coming Soon…
Submitted to Geoforum
“Too hot to handle: Using social media to search for lost and stolen pets”