First conviction under Finn’s Law and fish deaths in the river Sheppey

First conviction under Finn’s Law and fish deaths in the river Sheppey

Written by Defra Press Office

First conviction under Finn’s Law to protect service animals

Today there has been widespread national media coverage on the first conviction under the Animal Welfare (Service Animals) Act. This is also known as Finn’s Law and gives legal protection to our brave service animals that help to protect us all.

This conviction is covered widely including by the Daily Telegraph, BBC News Online, Daily Star, Daily Mirror and Sky News.

The Government announced its support for Finn’s Law, which was taken through Parliament as a Private Members’ Bill, with further information available here.

The law was named after Finn [pictured above], a police dog who was stabbed while pursuing a suspect with his handler PC David Wardell. Finn sustained serious stab wounds to the chest and head, but only criminal damage charges could be brought against his attacker.

Reports of dead fish in the Sheppey river


There has been coverage this morning in the Times, BBC, Express, Sun and Independent following claims of thousands of fish dying in a pollution spill in the River Sheppey in Somerset.

A 15km stretch of the river near Godney is affected and the EA is working to make the water safe for the wildlife. Samples from the river have been sent for examination and the cause of the pollution is expected to be known later.

An Environment Agency spokesperson said:

Our teams have been out on site, urgently investigating the cause of this incident and have successfully identified the source. We are continuing our hard work to restore oxygen levels in order to protect wildlife.

We have already seen an improvement in the area and are now surveying further stretches of the river. So far we have found no further pollution from the source.

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