Pet Abduction Bill

Jane Stevenson Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 19th January 2024 Commons Chamber

[Anna Firth]

I thank the hon. Member for her excellent point—in fact, there is another excellent private Member’s Bill on that topic further down the list today. She is absolutely right: we do not seek to criminalise anyone who looks after Sid, George, or any other stray cat.

The Bill includes an enabling power to extend the offences to other species of animal commonly kept as pets. If there is evidence of a significant number or a rise in cases of unlawful taking, the Government will be able to react in a dynamic way. When listening to the radio last night, I was very struck by the number of people who phoned in to talk about birds—in particular, birds of prey—being stolen, so that may well be an area that we look at in the future.

We have heard concerns about the fact that good behaviour should not be criminalised. I want to assure Members that while the Bill proposes offences meant to punish those who purposefully abduct a pet, it also creates exemptions for certain connected persons and subject to certain defences, such as a reasonable excuse for taking or detaining an animal. For example—we have already heard some examples—the offence will not apply in situations where a couple have got a cat or a dog while living together, then have a disagreement about the ownership of that pet and go their separate ways. That could include someone who is fleeing an abusive relationship taking their valued pet with them. Refuge has raised that specific point and is very happy to see that situation exempted in the Bill.

[Jane Stevenson (Wolverhampton North East) (Con)]

I will congratulate my hon. Friend again when I make my speech. She is raising such valuable points about the different circumstances that we will see a result of the Bill. Potentially in the future it will encompass a wider range of species than dogs and cats, so does she feel that we may need a widening of microchipping to encompass those pets? It will be difficult to prove ownership of animals that are not microchipped if they do not have distinguishing features.

[Anna Firth]

I thank my hon. Friend for an excellent point. The logic of that is irrefutable, and I agree with it wholeheartedly.

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[Ms Lyn Brown (West Ham) (Lab)]

Can I say first of all that my dog is truly the most amazing small loving creature in the entire universe and that I will not be challenged on that in this Chamber? Can I also say that she was robbed at the Westminster dog of the year show? We had ensured that she would win the online poll by a zillion votes, but Mr Speaker managed to pick up the prize and Cara was completely and utterly ignored. I promised Cara that I would never, ever put her through such an outrageously unfair test of her beauty and her amazingness again.

Cara is truly a member of our family. She is amazing with constituents. She comes to my surgery. If a constituent is upset, she gets off the chair, waddles over and sits there to be stroked. In fact, she has got me in trouble more than once by recognising a constituent in the street and going over to say hello. I have said, “I’m so sorry—she’s very friendly,” and been told, “Yes, we met two weeks ago. She clearly remembers me.”

[Jane Stevenson]

It is wonderful to hear about the hon. Lady’s dog, who I enjoyed meeting at the Westminster dog of the year show. In the interests of today’s debate and our cross-party unity on the issue, it is important to realise that when we are talking about the best dog or cat in the world, many things can be the best together. Each Member’s pet could fulfil the role that the hon. Lady describes.

[Ms Brown]

I am not sure that Cara would agree with that, so I am hesitant to agree with the hon. Lady, but I take her point. Cara is truly a member of our family; the entire family would be absolutely devastated if somebody were to take her from me. I would go to pieces, to be honest.

A number of my constituents, particularly through the lockdown period, contacted me about dog theft—both the fear and the actuality of it. Sadly, my constituents did not get their animals back at all. I know that there was a big market for them during lockdown, and because of the cost of living crisis—I make no political point about this—we are sadly seeing many more dogs landing at Dogs Trust and the Battersea Dogs & Cats Home because people can no longer afford to feed them.

I will not keep the House long in addressing the Bill, but I want to speak on behalf of Kim, who has a disability. She absolutely adores her dogs, but she tells me she no longer feels safe in taking them out. She does not feel that she would be able to defend them if somebody should come and try to take them from her.

She was particularly impacted after a friend, who was 84 years of age, had her terrier snatched from her while she was out on a walk. I know how terrifying and how emotionally devastating that must have been, because it would be like witnessing an assault or a kidnap of a member of her family—of such an emotional support for somebody of that age. It would have been just horrific.

I know things are no different for cat owners, and I am genuinely very pleased that this Bill recognises the need to protect cats in the same way. There is clearly very broad agreement that greater legal clarity and strength is needed in this area of law so that our closest animal companions are not treated as property, but rather our relationship with them as a society is reflected in law. The Bill has been a long time coming, and I am genuinely very grateful to the hon. Member for Southend West (Anna Firth) for bringing it forward. I am not going to delay the passage of this long-awaited Bill, so will leave it there, but I want to say how delighted I was to see it and how pleased I am to have been able to speak in favour of it today.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jane Stevenson (Wolverhampton North East) (Con)]

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. It is lovely to see an animal lover in the Chair for this important debate on pet abduction. First, I wish to commend my hon. Friend the Member for Southend West (Anna Firth) for introducing this Bill, which is one that she and I have campaigned to see brought forward for some time. It is so important to so many of our constituents. Everywhere in my constituency, I meet people who campaign on behalf of pets, proud pet lovers and fantastic volunteers. A few weeks ago, I met people from Ashmore Rescue for Cats, who do such amazing work. Its volunteers give up so much time to protect and rescue local cats. I have also met local Cats Protection officers and volunteers in Wolverhampton, all of whom have pushed for this Bill, and I am proud to mention them in the Chamber today.

It would be remiss of me not also to mention my hon. Friend’s predecessor, Sir David Amess, who is much missed today. I share with her that pride of being a new patron of the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation, so I look forward to pushing for other animal causes with her in the future.

The value of our pets to us is why this Bill is so important. The hon. Member for Walthamstow (Stella Creasy) mentioned her ageing cat, who may no longer be in the prime of her years. My two Cavalier spaniels, Cromwell and Bertie, are about to be 12. They have very few teeth left and look a bit ragged around the edges, but to me they are the most valuable thing in my household, in my possession. If someone stole my dogs, they would face little or no punishment, because the financial value of my dogs is nothing—if anything, they are a liability, because of ever-growing vets’ bills and the endless treatments that they need. They have no financial value, but this Bill will reflect the distress that my family and I would feel, and certainly my two dogs would feel, if they were to be abducted. Our fantastic Whips are not able to speak, but I did mention to my hon. Friend the Member for Stourbridge (Suzanne Webb) that her dog, Sidney Pickles, is also in strong support of this Bill, so it is good to put Sidney’s support on the record, even though my hon. Friend is not currently in her place.

The whole House can unite around this important piece of new legislation. In my intervention, I made points about ownership and proof. I am pleased that the Bill is future-proofed and it is applicable to a variety of pets, because it is difficult to set a dividing line of what pet has a value and what pet is just a standard extra piece of fur that someone buys at the pet shop. For all of us, our pet, whatever its type, is important and has that emotional value. To children in families, learning how to care for pets is an important part of growing up, and learning responsibility and compassion for other people, as well as for animals.

I hope my hon. Friend the Member for Southend West will forgive me for not talking at length, because I am being sponsored by tissues and Lemsip today, but I did not want to return to my constituency without her showing my full support. It is unusual to get volunteers to serve on Bill Committees, but she knows that I am very happy to support her in this Bill in any way I can. I can see my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for South Swindon (Sir Robert Buckland) is also indicating that it will not be difficult to put together a Bill Committee. I know that Members on both sides of the Chamber care passionately about animals.

I briefly say to the Minister that it would be good to hear where the Government stand on the issue of ownership if the Bill is widened to include other breeds of animal. If there are not enough distinguishing features of guinea pigs, hamsters or whatever—ferrets have been mentioned a fair few times—that proof of ownership point is important if we want the Bill to do what it says on the tin.

On behalf of all animals, I want to lay my sincere thanks to the Government on the record. We have had meetings about this matter over many months and years, and it is fantastic to see the Government support the Bill. I wish my hon. Friend the Member for Southend West every success.