Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill

Jane Stevenson Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 15th March 2024 Commons Chamber

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

It is a great pleasure to be called to speak and to congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for North Devon (Selaine Saxby) on this vital animal welfare Bill. As a proud patron of the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation and a vice-chair of the all-party parliamentary dog advisory welfare group, this issue is very close to my heart. Twelve years ago, I was duped and sold dogs by what I now realise were clever puppy smugglers. I want to highlight what happened to me to show how the work that the Government have done since has really made a difference.

I had lost my beloved rescue dog—in my lifetime, we have rescued a couple of dozen dogs, often having three at a time—who was killed in a traffic accident in the country. I was in bits. My mother found another ruby cavalier online—it looked legitimate—and took me to go and see this young puppy. On arriving, we were greeted by two men, who told us that their mother, a responsible breeder, was upstairs and sadly about to pass away. The whole cottage we were in was set up like an elderly lady’s home—it had pictures, chintz and all those homely surroundings—but I did notice that the dogs were not happy; they looked distressed.

We went to see a ruby cavalier who was eight weeks old—he looked quite ordinary—but another dog there, who was six months old, was catatonic. He was staring at the floor, did not react and did not interact. However, when either of the men went near him, he shook and was visibly terrified. My mother and I left with both dogs. When someone tells you there is a terminally ill elderly lady upstairs, you do not ask questions about seeing the mother or make those ordinary checks. We were suspicious but wanted to believe that we had not been duped.

Months later, I met someone else with cavaliers who had been told exactly the same story by those people four years before. This clever scam had evidently been going on for some time. It took perhaps three years for the catatonic dog to be able to interact when out on walks. I cannot imagine what he had gone through while being smuggled and taken away from his mother. It is an horrific trade.

I campaigned for Lucy’s law before I was a Member, and I met Lucy the cavalier and her owner, Lisa. I commend their campaigning, and the campaigning of so many other rescue dog owners, to clamp down on this abominable trade that has upset so many dogs and so many owners. My constituents in Wolverhampton North East send me so many emails about dog and cat welfare— less so about ferret welfare, but I am sure that ferret lovers across the land will be reassured by this Bill.

The recent campaigns about which my constituents have written to me include greyhound racing. Monmore Green stadium in Wolverhampton recently closed its motorcycle speedway in order to accommodate more greyhound racing, and I urge the Minister not to let Wolverhampton become the home of UK greyhound racing, which is driven by online betting in the far east that has no benefit to my constituency but promotes some questionable welfare practices.

I will not speak for long, because I know that so many Members want to talk in this debate. This Bill will clamp down on evil puppy smugglers who transport pregnant dogs across borders. I have been told that often, if it is a profitable breed, smugglers will ship over a pregnant dog and then take her back abroad, before starting again. These poor female dogs are being used to create mountains of money for unscrupulous people. The price of dogs rocketed during the pandemic, and we know that pedigree dogs can fetch thousands of pounds—the price has increased tenfold in some cases.

I thank everyone, especially the hon. Member for North Devon, for their contributions. We are all united on animal welfare. I commend the Minister for the Government’s work, and I urge him to push even further by supporting the many private Members’ Bills on animal welfare. My Glue Traps (Offences) Act 2022 will thankfully come into force this year, and we all want the Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill to be adopted and on the statute book as quickly as possible.

--- Later in debate ---

[Steve Reed]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her intervention. Through that example, she makes the most compelling case for why the Bill is necessary and why it should be brought in as soon as possible. Families who go out to buy a family pet are aghast, appalled and distressed when they get home and find out that that animal is not the healthy, well cared-for pet they thought they were buying, but has been subject to abuse. The animal may have behavioural or health problems that cost them thousands of pounds. It is simply unfair.

The Bill gives the authorities in different parts of the United Kingdom—including those with devolved Governments—the power to prohibit or restrict the transport of dogs, cats or ferrets into the UK for the purpose of promoting the welfare of the imported animals, since that, too, has often been used as cover for the illegal importation of ill-treated or sick animals for sale as pets. The Bill requires regulations to be made covering England, Scotland and Wales to prohibit the importing of dogs or cats that are below the age of six months, are more than 42 days pregnant, or have been mutilated through declawing, ear cropping, tail docking or other such methods. These are extremely important measures that will give a significant boost to animal welfare.

There has been a huge increase in the importation of heavily pregnant dogs and cats, which have often been stolen from their loving owners in continental Europe and smuggled into the UK in the most appalling conditions. The criminal gangs’ intention is to sell the puppies or kittens as quickly as possible after they are born. They do not care that the animals may have been made sick by the conditions in which they were transported, or even if the animals are born prematurely as a result of trauma inflicted on the mother. It is purely and simply a criminal money-making operation that needs to be stopped as quickly as possible.

[Jane Stevenson]

I am one of the most passionate people about animal welfare in this place, and it is lovely to see some new converts on the Labour Benches discussing animal welfare—[Interruption.] And on the Labour Front Bench. However, I would also be interested to hear the hon. Gentleman’s thoughts on Labour’s determination to prevent single-sex spaces being discussed today, because that issue is also important to my constituents.

[Steve Reed]

I am very disappointed indeed that the hon. Member has attempted to politicise an important point. We are talking about the welfare of animals.