Animal Welfare: Cats and Dogs

Baroness Parminter Excerpts

Wednesday 20th November 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Parminter (LD)]

My Lords, I am delighted to participate in this debate secured by my noble friend. I do so not as a dog owner, nor indeed as a cat owner—much to the chagrin of my 10 year-old daughter, who puts persistent pressure on me but I will resist. That is not to say that I do not understand the many benefits that cats and dogs bring to homes in our country in terms of companionship, health, and animals’ ability to encourage people’s better nature. It is important that this House is debating this issue and it does not do so enough. I pay tribute to my noble friend for securing this debate.

We as individuals have a huge duty of care to animals, and the way that we treat them is important. We should reflect on how we do so because it is also an indication of how we treat our fellow humans. Like others, I pay tribute to the welfare organisations that do so much for our companion animals. As a former head of campaigns and former vice-president of the RSPCA, it is no surprise that I shall focus on that organisation at a time when it is being targeted because of what is seen to be more political campaigning. I dispute that, but it nevertheless means that the vital work it undertakes in re-homing cats and dogs can be put to one side. The RSPCA is now re-homing more than 11,000 dogs and nearly 30,000 cats a year; we should remember that and pay tribute to the organisation and its volunteers who carry out that work.

I also acknowledge the work that this coalition Government have done on the welfare of dogs. As has been noted, it is this Government who will bring in compulsory microchipping for dogs, which will be incredibly valuable in reuniting pets with their owners; and it is this Government who plan to clear up some of the confusion in the legislation around the definition of a public place, so that criminal liability can be extended to private property.

The issue that I want to cover relates to the welfare of dogs and specifically the consolidation of dog legislation. As many Members will be aware, it is presently scattered among 10 pieces of legislation—soon to be 11 if the Bill that made us begin this debate late reaches the statute books. That plethora of legislation leads to confusion among the law enforcement agencies—dog wardens, RSPCA inspectors and others—about which legislation is right to use in different situations, be it dog fighting, straying, prohibition types or dangerous dogs. It also means that there can be some lack of clarity for the general public to know who they should report incidents and complaints about.

There are clearly a number of arguments in favour of dog legislation consolidation; I will concentrate on just four. The first is that the legislation we have at the moment tends to be very reactive, so does not prevent accidents from happening. It is interesting to note that both Northern Ireland and Scotland have recently passed legislation to make earlier intervention possible. Secondly, most of this legislation was drafted prior to the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and may not take account of the current understanding of dog behaviour and welfare. That is particularly true in the area of dangerous dogs, where it is generally accepted that there are critical developments and environmental influences which affect aggression, and that it is not just about the breed types. It is interesting that in America, in October I think—certainly this autumn—President Obama said that breed-specific legislation was ineffective and that the right approach should be to encourage responsible dog ownership regardless of breed.

Thirdly, the existing legislation is incredibly complex and has required an awful lot of legal testing. There is nothing wrong with that; court cases can often be very helpful in understanding what the legislation was seeking to achieve, but in the area of the Dangerous Dogs Act it has become extremely complex and expensive to enforce. The seizing and kennelling costs associated with enforcing that legislation in England and Wales alone for the police force is £4 million every year. We are also getting a ballooning number of prosecution cases, which is making the costs much, much higher for our hard pressed law enforcement agencies, including the police. Fourthly and finally, the trends in animal welfare are clearly all moving in the wrong direction. Cruelty prosecutions are up, the number of dog bites is up, the number of prosecutions for prohibited types is up, and the number of prosecutions for people not keeping their dogs under control is up as well. Something is clearly not working. We are not only compromising animal welfare but putting human safety at risk.

In conclusion, there are loud voices in favour now of consolidating the dog legislation. In a recent 2010 consultation for the Government, 78% of the public said that they were in favour of it, the EFRA Select Committee said that it was in favour of it, and we know that ACPO is as well. I ask the Government: what is their current thinking on the case for consolidating dog legislation welfare?