Protection of Animals (Amendment) Act, 1954

 Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty,
   by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual
   and Temporal, and Commons, in this Present Parliament
   assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:--

1.--(1) Where a person who has been convicted under the
Protection of Animals Act, 1911, or the Protection of Animals
(Scotland) Act. 1912, of an offence of cruelty to any animal is
subsequently convicted under either of those Acts of such an
offence, the court by which he is convicted on the subsequent
occasion may, if it thinks fit, in addition to or in substitution for
any other punishment, order him to be disqualified, for such
period as it thinks fit, for having custody of any animal or any
animal of a kind specified in the order.

    (2) A court which has ordered the disqualification of a person
in pursuance of this section may, if it thinks fit, suspend the
operation of the order--

       (a) for such period as the court thinks necessary for enabling
       arrangements to be made for the custody of any animal
       or animals to which the disqualification relates; or

       (b) pending an appeal.

    (3) A person who is disqualified by virtue of an order under
this section may, at any time after the expiration of twelve months
from the date of the order, and from time to time apply to the
court by which the order was made to remove the disqualification,
and on any such application the court may, as it thinks proper,
having regard to the character of the applicant and his conduct
subsequent to the order, the nature of the offence of which he
was convicted, and any other circumstances of the case, either--

       (a) direct that, as from such date as may be specified in the
       direction, the disqualification be removed or the order be so
       varied as to apply only to animals of a kind specified in the
       direction; or

       (b) refuse the application:

   Provided that where on an application under this section the
court directs the variation of the order or refuses the application,
a further application thereunder shall not be entertained if made
within twelve months after the date of the direction or, as the
case may be, the refusal.

   2. If a person has custody of any animal in contravention of
of an order made under this Act, he shall be liable on summary
conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds or to imprisonment
for a term not exceeding three months or to both such fine and
imprisonment.   

   3. The maximum amount of the fine which may be imposed
on a person convicted of an offence under any of the following
enactments, that is to say, subsection (1) of section one of the
Protection of Animals Act, 1911, subsection one of the
Protection of Animals (Scotland) Act, 1912, subsection (4)
of section one of the Protection of Animals (Cruelty to Dogs)
Act, 1933, and subsection (4) of section one of the Protection
of Animals (Cruelty to Dogs)(Scotland) Act, 1934 (being
respectively enactments which penalise certain offences of
cruelty to animals and enactments which prohibit a person
from keeping a dog or applying for or obtaining a dog licence
while disqualified by an order of court), shall, in the case of a
person so convicted after the commencement of this Act, be
increased from twenty-five pounds to fifty pounds.

   4.--(1) In this Act--

          (a) expressions used have, in relation to England and
          Wales, the same meanings as in the Protection of Animals
          Act, 1991, and, in relation to Scotland, the same meanings
          as in the Protection of Animals (Scotland) Act, 1912; and

          (b) references to any enactment shall be construed as
          references to that enactment as amended by any other
          enactment, including this Act.

    (2) This Act may be cited as the Protection of Animals
(Amendment) Act, 1954.

    (3) This Act shall not extend to Northern Ireland.

    (4) This Act shall come into operation on the
first day of January, nineteen hundred and fifty-five.