# Welfare of Animals Act (Northern Ireland) 2011, Section 8: Fighting etc.


(1) A person commits an offence if that person—
(a) causes an animal fight to take place, or attempts to do so;
(b) knowingly receives money for admission to an animal fight;
(c) knowingly publicises a proposed animal fight;
(d) provides information about an animal fight to another with the intention of enabling or encouraging attendance at the fight;
(e) makes or accepts a bet on the outcome of an animal fight or on the likelihood of anything occurring or not occurring in the course of an animal fight;
(f) takes part in an animal fight;
(g) owns or has in his or her possession anything designed or adapted for use in connection with an animal fight with the intention of its being so used;
(h) keeps or trains an animal for use in connection with an animal fight;
(i) keeps, uses or manages, or permits or assists in the keeping or use or management of, any premises for use for an animal fight.
(2) A person commits an offence if, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, that person is present at an animal fight.
(3) A person commits an offence if, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, that person—
(a) knowingly supplies a photograph, image or video recording of an animal fight;
(b) knowingly publishes a photograph, image or video recording of an animal fight;
(c) knowingly shows a photograph, image or video recording of an animal fight to another; or
(d) possesses a photograph, image or video recording of an animal fight, knowing it to be such a recording, with the intention of supplying it.
(4) Subsection (3) does not apply—
(a) in the case of paragraph (a), to the supply of a video recording for inclusion in a programme service;
(b) in the case of paragraph (b) or (c), to the publication or showing of a video recording by means of its inclusion in a programme service;
(c) in the case of paragraph (d), by virtue of intention to supply for inclusion in a programme service.
(5) In this section—
“animal fight” means an occasion on which a protected animal is placed with an animal, or with a human, for the purpose of fighting, wrestling or baiting;
“programme service” has the same meaning as in the Communications Act 2003 (c. 21);
“video recording” means a recording, in any form, from which a moving image may by any means be reproduced and includes data stored on a computer disc or by other electronic means which is capable of conversion into a moving image.
(6) In this section—
(a) references to supplying or publishing a video recording are to supplying or publishing a video recording in any manner, including, in relation to a video recording in the form of data stored electronically, by means of transmitting such data;
(b) references to showing a video recording are to showing a moving image reproduced from a video recording by any means.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nia/2011/16/section/8 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/welfare-of-animals-act-northern-ireland-2011/section-8
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.