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

Lord de Clifford Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 5th September 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord de Clifford (CB)]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Trees for his introduction to the Bill. I wish the House to note my registered interests. First, I have been a dog owner for many years, enjoying the benefits, both physically and mentally, of owning one for so long. I also work for, and am a shareholder in, a large independent veterinary practice, and I represent an organisation on the British Veterinary Association’s council.

I fully support this important Bill as a supporter of animal welfare. I know how critical it is that this House does its job and scrutinises the Bill, but I hope that we do not table any amendments that may change the Bill and instead make these changes via secondary legislation, as other Peers have stated. I congratulate Danny Chambers MP on bringing the Bill back to the Commons and through its stages in the other place. I also thank the Government—especially the Minister, the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman of Ullock—for supporting the Bill.

I turn to some of the reasons why the Bill is so important. First, my noble friend Lord Trees mentioned biosecurity. We are rabies-free, and we must continue to be so. Also, the veterinary industry has seen a rise in the number of cases of the infectious disease brucellosis, which has increased due to the import of dogs. This disease is highly infectious, and pet owners and veterinary staff handling pets are at risk. At our practice, if dogs are tested and found to be infected, in most cases we would recommend euthanasia, which is an awful outcome and is distressing for both the pet—obviously—and its owners.

Hundreds of thousands of dogs, cats and ferrets are imported illegally into this country in poor conditions. They suffer long journeys when very young or when heavily pregnant, which is not good and awfully cruel. We also need to close the loophole that allows the cruel, illegal mutilation of dogs’ ears, tail docking and the declawing of cats by uncaring, fashion-obsessed pet owners who claim that these pets are imported. We need to improve the protections for the pet-owning, pet-purchasing public so that they can buy pets that have had reasonable upbringings.

I have questions and concerns, many of which were addressed in Wednesday’s briefing; I thank my noble friend Lord Trees and the Minister for attending. Enforcement is an area on which we will need to continue to focus once this Bill has been passed into law—quickly, I hope—with regard not only to the import of pets but to animal welfare in general and to biosecurity at ports and the control of animal diseases. Can the Minister find time in her busy schedule to keep enforcement on the agenda and to support Border Force staff and local authorities in enforcing the protective laws that we have in place?

I turn to access to the country via Northern Ireland and its relationship with the Republic of Ireland under the Windsor Framework. There is a possibility that criminal gangs can use this route to import pets in larger numbers. I heard what was said at the briefing, but I ask the Government to continue to keep a close eye on the number of pets crossing the Irish Sea, to continue working closely with the EU on illegal pet movement and to make sure that Northern Ireland does not become a route and a loophole.

I am sure that other noble Lords have, like me, been contacted by dedicated, caring and loving people who rescue abandoned or mutilated dogs in Europe and bring them back to this country for care and loving homes. The majority of these cases are genuine, but criminal gangs do use this to bring dogs into this country; we need to close this loophole. I ask the Minister, in summing up, to reassure those good-hearted individuals that we will look at how we can possibly accommodate the rehoming of these unwanted and mutilated pets through secondary legislation or via commercial importing routes. We have to pass this Bill to protect both the large number of pets that are cruelly transported to this country and the pet-owning community in this country.