Section 11: Transfer of animals by way of sale or prize to persons under 16

Animal Welfare Act 2006 · 2006 c. 45View on legislation.gov.uk

A person commits an offence if he sells an animal to a person whom he has reasonable cause to believe to be under the age of 16 years.

For the purposes of subsection (1), selling an animal includes transferring, or agreeing to transfer, ownership of the animal in consideration of entry by the transferee into another transaction.

Subject to subsections (4) to (6), a person commits an offence if—

he enters into an arrangement with a person whom he has reasonable cause to believe to be under the age of 16 years, and
the arrangement is one under which that person has the chance to win an animal as a prize.

A person does not commit an offence under subsection (3) if—

he enters into the arrangement in the presence of the person with whom the arrangement is made, and
he has reasonable cause to believe that the person with whom the arrangement is made is accompanied by a person who is not under the age of 16 years.

A person does not commit an offence under subsection (3) if—

he enters into the arrangement otherwise than in the presence of the person with whom the arrangement is made, and
he has reasonable cause to believe that a person who has actual care and control of the person with whom the arrangement is made has consented to the arrangement.

A person does not commit an offence under subsection (3) if he enters into the arrangement in a family context.

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.