Domestic Animals: Welfare

Lord Kirkham Excerpts

Thursday 10th May 2018 Grand Committee

[Lord Kirkham (Con)]

My Lords, I am delighted that the Government are committed to ensuring that Brexit will be good for animal welfare in the UK. Far from looking to loosen regulations in this important area, as we leave the EU we will ensure that we do even more to protect animals.

I am confining my remarks principally to dogs, without intending any slight to other domestic animals. That is simply due to time pressure and because dogs are, after all, our most popular domestic animal, with over 10 million living with us in the UK. It is argued that we are a country that gives undue priority to the care of our domestic animals, but that is emphatically not a view that I share. That is not surprising, as I am a vice-president of the Kennel Club, founded in 1873, and deputy president of the Animal Health Trust, which is 75 years old. Both organisations are absolutely committed to improving the health and welfare of domestic animals, particularly dogs.

With that prompt, I trust that the Government are still minded to ban those horrible electric-shock collars that my noble friends Lord De Mauley and Lord Astor mentioned. I look forward to the Government’s considered consultation response. With the support of the Kennel Club, the Animal Health Trust is driving forward research that is delivering new treatments, vaccines, preventive measures and pioneering scientific developments. These will make life better for dogs and other companion animals worldwide. That is research that can yield read-across benefits to other domestic animals and to human beings.

As well as fulfilling the role of loving companions that help keep us fit and sane, dogs can be key workers, too. Every day they help to make our workplace, here in the House, safer as the sniffer dogs and their handlers diligently search around those red leather Benches for explosives. Lottie the calm canine guide leads my noble friend Lord Holmes of Richmond to his place and into the right Lobby. The noble Lord, Lord Blunkett, has a new Labrador, Barley, who skilfully guides him into a different Lobby. Police dogs help to protect us here and in many public places. Sniffer dogs guard our borders against smugglers of bombs, drugs, money, animals, plants, food and people. Dogs help us find the victims of natural disasters, living and dead; they serve with distinction in our Armed Forces; and play a vital role on every farm in the land. Whether it is as guide dogs for the blind, hearing dogs for the deaf, seizure alert dogs, other assistance dogs for the elderly and disabled, comforters for the sick and bereaved, or simply as much-loved and valued pets, it is hard to overstate the importance of the role dogs play in all our lives.

It is our duty as a civilised nation to ensure that we repay the devotion of our dogs, recognising them not merely as sentient beings but as our very best friends, and that they and all other domestic animals are afforded the fullest protection of the law as we move into the next phase of our proud history outside the EU.