Like many across Newbury, I am an animal lover, and I am very proud of the UK’s long history of leading the way in animal welfare. The Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill is another step in the right direction, following the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill, the Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act and other important pieces of legislation.
Through the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill, I am glad that the Government will be bringing in some of the world’s strongest protections for pets, livestock and kept wild animals. As with all of the animal welfare legislation brought to Parliament, I look forward to supporting the Bill as it makes its way through the legislative process.
The Bill covers a number of areas. Firstly, it delivers on a manifesto commitment to introduce a ban on keeping primates as pets, ensuring that all primates being kept privately in England are kept at zoo-level standards and that ownership of primates at levels below these standards is phased out. The Bill will also make the UK the first European country to ban excessively long journeys for livestock during live export and it will tackle the unethical trade of puppies by reducing the number of pets, including dogs, cats and ferrets, that can travel under pet travel rules.
The Bill also contains an enabling power to allow the Environment Secretary to make regulations about the importation of cats, dogs and ferrets for the purpose of promoting their welfare. Further restrictions could include an increase in the minimum age of imported puppies, as well as the prohibition of the import of pregnant dogs and dogs with mutilations such as cropped ears and tails.
I have been asked why kittens were not included in the Government’s consultation on proposed restrictions to the commercial and non-commercial movement of pets into Great Britain. The consultation did not include proposals to increase the minimum age of kittens imported or non-commercially moved to six months or ban the import of heavily pregnant or declawed cats because there is limited evidence of a significant illegal trade in cats or significant numbers of low welfare movements. In 2020, for example, no pregnant cats and only 17 kittens under the age of 15 weeks were seized and detained. I am assured that Ministers are currently analysing the responses to the consultation.
Finally, I appreciate that there are also some concerns about livestock worrying, which happens when a dog attacks or chases livestock on agricultural land or is at large in a field with sheep. This can result in significant injury and suffering and can have devastating consequences for livestock keepers. Having met with landowners and rural communities across West Berkshire, I know that this constitutes one aspect of rural crime faced by many in the local area. Therefore, I am glad that the Government has proposed to modernise existing legislation through the Kept Animals Bill. This includes amending definitions within the legislation to broaden the scope of the offence, as well as improving enforcement mechanisms to help the police deal with and investigate incidents of livestock worrying more effectively.
Further, in the most serious cases, the police will have powers to seize dogs after particularly serious incidents, if there is reason to believe that the dog may pose an ongoing risk to livestock. This will help reduce the risk of dogs reoffending, which is a serious problem.
The Kept Animals Bill was carried over into this parliamentary session following the Queen’s Speech in May 2022. The Bill was due to have its Remaining Stages on 19 September 2022. However, due to the funeral of Her Majesty The Queen this was unable to happen. I fully recognise that there is strong support for the Bill across Parliament and I am assured that it will return to the House as soon as parliamentary time allows.
(March 2023)