Commentary on provisions of the Act Section 2: Cat abduction
Subsection (1) of this section establishes an offence in relation to the taking of a cat for actions that take place in England and Northern Ireland. It provides that it is an offence for a person to take a cat so as to remove it from the lawful control of any person.
	Subsection (2) provides that no offence is committed where the conditions in (a) to (d) of that subsection are met, and therefore the offence does not apply in certain cases involving persons who previously lived together in the same household with the cat.
	Subsection (3) sets out that it is a defence for a person to show that they had lawful authority or a reasonable excuse to take the cat.
	Subsection (4) provides that the defendant is under an evidential burden of proof in relation to the defences in subsection (3), so that if sufficient evidence of the defence is provided, the burden is then on the prosecution to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the defence is not true.
	Subsection (5) sets out the penalties for the offences under this section, which include, on conviction on indictment, a maximum of five years imprisonment, a fine, or both.
	Subsection (6) includes a definition of "taking" for the purposes of this section.