More than 30,000 people have signed a petition supporting greater protection for police service animals, such as dogs and horses.
North East MSP Liam Kerr launched the petition less than a month ago, calling for a new criminal offence of causing injury to police dogs.
Currently there is no specific crime of injuring or killing a police dog.
In Scotland, offenders who harm service animals such as dogs or horses can only be charged under a patchwork of laws unfit for this purpose.
Scottish Conservative Mr Kerr has pledged to introduce a new criminal offence of harming or killing a service animal, which could also include protection for fire and military service dogs and assistance animals like guide dogs.
Yesterday, he said it was “extremely heartening” to gather such a large amount of support in such a short space of time.
“The support this petition has gathered simply demonstrates the widespread public support for a change to the law to fully protect service animals,” he said. “In Scotland, hundreds of service animals work with Police Scotland to keep us safe.
“This includes sniffer dogs, police dogs and horses — they all work with the same dedication to duty as the men and women in our police force.
“Unfortunately, in Scotland, our laws don’t protect them the same way and currently, the law views a police animal as little more than property.
“The Cabinet Secretary must listen to the thousands of voices calling for greater protection and status for service animals and change the law now.”
