Fly-Grazing of Horses

Penny Mordaunt Excerpts
Tuesday 26th November 2013

(11 years ago)

Westminster Hall
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Damian Hinds Portrait Damian Hinds
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I do not know the specifics of that case, so I cannot comment on how quickly things were or were not done. On fly-grazing, I do know that the RSPCA and other charities are heavily overburdened and struggle to cope with their case load, which may be part of the issue.

Penny Mordaunt Portrait Penny Mordaunt (Portsmouth North) (Con)
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I thank my hon. Friend for securing the debate, not least because I hope it will raise public awareness. The public are really appalled at some of the welfare abuses that have taken place, but the strong message to them today is that they can be part of the solution by reporting cases. Quite often, welfare situations are exacerbated because of the time it takes for someone to identify where horses are and to report them. I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing the debate, and I hope it will help get that message out.

Damian Hinds Portrait Damian Hinds
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I am grateful to my hon. Friend. She is right that such incidents must be reported and that the public play an important part in that. It is frustrating if offences are reported and there either is not the capacity to deal with them or proceedings are started but end up in a shocking circular process.