Badgers Badgers receive protection in law to an extent which is unique for an unendangered species. The Protection of Badgers Act 1992 makes it unlawful to kill, take or dig for one, or attempt to do so, except under licence or in certain particular circumstances defined in the Act, or to injure one or attempt to do so. It is also an offence to be in possession of a dead badger or any part of, or anything derived from, a badger. Badger setts have been protected since 1991 and anyone wishing to disturb an inhabited sett needs special permission to do so. The existing legislation is necessary to protect badgers from gratuitous acts of cruelty to which they have been subjected all too often in the past.
Licences are available to kill or remove badgers if they are found to be damaging property.
The Protection Against Cruel Tethering Act 1988 created a specific offence under the Protection of Animals Act 1911 of causing unnecessary suffering to a horse, ass or mule by the manner or condition of its tethering. Boarding Establishments Establishments where boarding animals is being carried on as a business are subject to the Animal Boarding Establishments Act 1963, which requires such establishments to be licensed by the local authority. For the purposes of this Act the keeping of such kennels is defined as the carrying on at any premises, including a private dwelling, of a business of providing accommodation for other people's cats and dogs. It is an offence to own or keep any of the above types dog, unless it is on the Index of Exempted Dogs and is in compliance with the requirements. The 1997 Act removed the mandatory destruction order provisions of the 1991 Act by giving the courts discretion on sentencing, and re-opened the Index of Exempted Dogs for those prohibited dogs which the courts consider would not pose a risk to the public.