Pet Theft Reform Coalition was set up by Daniel Allen and Debbie Matthews in 2018 and they have been campaigning since then to classify the theft of a pet as a specific crime with appropriate custodial sentences, along with other changes to help protect pets.
Many charities and other organisations support Pet Theft Reform including Dogs Trust, Battersea, Dog Lost, The Kennel Club, RSPCA, Animal Friends and Stolen & Missing Pets Alliance. As listed on their https://www.pettheftreform.com/ website, several MPs also actively promote the campaign’s cause and have spoken out in parliament about pet theft and in particular the theft of dogs. Pet Theft Reform also has the support of many high-profile animal loving celebrities such as Ricky Gervais and Peter Egan, Sara Cox, David Walliams and Clare Balding.
With growing public concern about increases in pet theft, Defra, the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office established the Pet Theft Taskforce to gather evidence on the scale of the issue. In September 2021 it published recommendations on how to effectively tackle and prevent pet theft in England and Wales, including the use of DNA testing; you can read the report here.
For pet owners worried about theft Pet Theft Reform is a useful campaign to follow and support. They have social media pages on Twitter and Facebook.