Domestic Animals: Welfare

Earl of Shrewsbury Excerpts

Thursday 10th May 2018 Grand Committee

[The Earl of Shrewsbury (Con)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as the owner of five dogs and president of the Dove Valley Working Gundog Club. I congratulate my noble friend Lord Black on securing this important debate. I shall briefly make two points.

The first is regarding the completely unacceptable practice of puppy farming. On 8 February this year my right honourable friend the Secretary of State announced:

“A ban on third party puppy sales is to be explored by the government as part of a package of reforms to drive up animal welfare standards”.


I believe that any such reform should be much stronger than simply a ban—it should be much more bite than just a bark. Will my noble friend the Minister provide an update on the progress of this, and on his plans in this area?

My second point concerns the theft of working dogs, predominantly gundogs, in rural areas. The number of missing or stolen gundogs has been on the rise since 2012. According to the Shooting Times, in that year around 3,500 dogs were reported stolen simply during the shooting season. Since then, gundog theft has continued in a big way: the figures are on the increase each year. These working dogs are highly valuable assets, with a typical trained Labrador costing upwards of £4,000. But it is not only gundogs which fall victim to the thief: terriers are fair game, too. I understand that criminals sell them into the unspeakably cruel and vile dogfighting world, as so-called bait dogs. That is quite simply disgusting. Does my noble friend agree that everything must be done to bear down on this aspect of rural crime, which causes considerable cruelty and great distress to dogs and their owners alike? Will he convey to his colleagues at the Home Office that funding for rural crime units must not be diminished but enhanced?