{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/welfare-of-animals-act-northern-ireland-1972/section-25",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/welfare-of-animals-act-northern-ireland-1972/section-25.json",
  "legislation": "apni/1972/7",
  "legislation_title": "Welfare of Animals Act (Northern Ireland) 1972",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/welfare-of-animals-act-northern-ireland-1972",
  "path": "section/25",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "25",
  "heading": "Penalties.",
  "text": "(1) Subject to subsection (2), any person guilty of an offence of cruelty within the meaning of this Part shall be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale or to both.\n(2) Where the owner of an animal is convicted of permitting cruelty within the meaning of this Part by reason only of his having failed to exercise reasonable care and supervision, he shall not be liable to imprisonment without the option of a fine.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "1994 NI 6"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/apni/1972/7/section/25",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T21:29:09.607708+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}