Thank you for contacting me about the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill.
The UK has long led the way on animal welfare. Ministers are building on our world-leading standards with ambitious reforms, as outlined in the Action Plan for Animal Welfare. The Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill will introduce landmark protections for pets, livestock and kept wild animals. I look forward to supporting the Bill through Parliament.
The Kept Animals Bill will strengthen domestic animal welfare protection for kept animals by delivering the Government’s manifesto commitments to end the export of live animals for fattening and slaughter, crack down on puppy smuggling, and ban the keeping of primates as pets. It will also update the Zoo Licensing Act, introduce a new pet abduction offence, and reform legislation covering to tackle livestock worrying.
On the issue of puppy smuggling, the Bill reduces the number of pet dogs, cats and ferrets that can be moved under the pet travel rules that apply to non-commercial movements. This will prevent unscrupulous traders from exploiting pet travel rules, making it harder to import large numbers of puppies into Great Britain.
The Bill includes a power to make regulations about the importation of pet animals into Great Britain for the purpose of promoting animal welfare. This will enable Ministers to go further in the future and explore measures such as increasing the minimum age that dogs can be brought into Great Britain, prohibiting the importation of heavily pregnant dams as well as banning the importing of dogs which have been subjected to low welfare practices such as ear cropping or tail docking.
The Kept Animals Bill was carried over into this parliamentary session following the Queen’s Speech in May 2022. My ministerial colleagues 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.
Livestock Worrying
I fully appreciate your 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. Through the Kept Animals Bill, new measures will be brought in to crack down on livestock worrying. These measures will enhance enforcement mechanisms available to the police and expand the scope of livestock species and locations covered by the law. Improved powers will enable the police to respond to livestock worrying incidents more effectively.
Live Animal Exports
The transportation of animals can have serious negative effects on the animals’ welfare, especially over long journeys, due to a variety of factors, such as distress, injury from unsuitable transport, hunger, dehydration and heat/cold stress. I know that there has been longstanding public and parliamentary concern over the welfare issues arising from this trade. Following a public consultation on the Government’s manifesto commitment to end excessively long journeys for animals for slaughter and fattening, the Kept Animals Bill will ban the export of cattle, sheep, pigs, goats and equines for slaughter and fattening beginning in or transiting through Great Britain to a third country.
I understand that over 11,000 responses were received in the Government’s consultation, and 86 per cent of respondents agreed that livestock and equine export journeys for slaughter and fattening were unnecessary. As part of the consultation, Ministers considered proposals covering maximum journey times, temperature conditions, space and headroom allowances and transport times.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.
Craig Whittaker MP
April 2023