Commentary on Sections Part 2 – Animal Welfare Section 30 – Sale of animals to children
150.The Pet Animals Act 1960 allowed children as young as 12 to be able to buy an animal and they could do so with neither parental consent nor knowledge.
151.Subsection (1) makes it an offence for a person to sell an animal to a person under the age of 16 years.
152.Subsection (2) provides a defence if the seller believed that the purchaser was 16 or over and was either shown evidence of the purchaser’s age or had no reasonable cause to suspect from the purchaser’s appearance that they were under 16.