DEPARTMENT FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

LAUNCH OF THE DRAFT ANIMAL WELFARE BILL

The new law will introduce a new duty of care on pet owners to look after their pets properly, in accordance with good practice, and will, for the first time, define what constitutes cruelty. It will consolidate and modernise over 20 pieces of animal welfare legislation relating to farmed and non-farmed animals

The Bill will:-

* Strengthen and amend offences relating to animal fighting, for which provision is currently made in the Protection of Animals Act 1911;

* Modernise and re-define the offence of cruelty, which is already a substantive offence under the 1911 Act;

* Impose a duty of care to ensure the welfare of animals on owners of animals and those responsible for them based upon existing good practice.

A similar provision already exists to protect farmed animals;

* Extend powers to make regulations in respect of both farmed and non-farmed animals.  This will enable action to be taken  as welfare needs arise. It will also facilitate compliance with EU and international obligations on animal welfare;

* Improve the way that activities are regulated, where there is a need to ensure animal welfare standards are met.

* This will involve bringing together many common provisions on licensing that exist in separate pieces of legislation, with a focus on improving the quality of inspections. Licensing will be required for both new and currently regulated activities but will be required only where necessary to ensure animal welfare standards;

* Impose a ban on mutilations - such as the tail docking of dogs - subject to limited  exceptions only where there are welfare or good management reasons for the mutilation;

* Increase the effectiveness of animal welfare law enforcement. This will include the provision of additional powers for inspectors from central and local government and the police where it has become apparent that this is necessary.  It should make it more difficult to circumvent a disqualification order made by the court; and

* Increase the range of sentences available to the courts when dealing with the various offences in the Bill.

Mr Bradshaw, the minister, said:

"This is the most comprehensive review of the law on pets for a century and will set the framework for the next century.

'We recognise that the existing animal welfare legislation does not allow effective action to be taken where a pet, although not currently suffering, is being kept in such a way that suffering will probably occur at some future point. This is clearly not satisfactory.

"The draft Bill extends a duty to promote animal welfare - currently present in farmed animal legislation - to all animal keepers. This will mean that all domestic or captive animals must be cared for in accordance with best animal management practices. This is a major improvement to current welfare laws which are often based on the view that good welfare is about taking action after an animal has suffered.

"The Bill also introduces into our law a clear definition of cruelty against an animal and provides those responsible for enforcing the law with the powers needed to deal effectively with people who ill treat or neglect animals in their care.

"The Bill will also provide powers to introduce secondary legislation and Codes of Practice to protect the welfare of non-farmed kept animals. This enabling power is already available for farmed animals and our aim is to ensure that in future all domestic and captive animals will be protected by legislation that can be easily revised to take account of changing welfare needs and increased scientific knowledge.

  (19/7/04)