Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the risk of infectious zoonotic diseases (a) mutating in and (b) spreading from fur farms to other mammals; and what steps he is taking to mitigate that risk.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government shares the British public’s high regard for animal welfare. Fur farming has been banned in England and Wales since 2000 (2002 in Scotland and Northern Ireland). Fur farming is legal in some EU countries. Where outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2 and avian influenza virus have occurred in fur farms in Europe in recent years, the governments in those countries took action to cull the affected farms to mitigate the risk of spread.
Nevertheless, together with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) we are keeping a close eye on the findings of zoonotic pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2 and avian influenza in mink, foxes and other animals farmed for fur and the possible risk to human and animal health. We are vigilant to changes in risk and continue to use our established systems which include international disease monitoring programmes in the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) and UKHSA to monitor the situation the outcomes of which are reviewed through our Veterinary Risk Group (VRG) and the Human Animal Infections and Risk Surveillance (HAIRS) group. The HAIRS group have published a risk assessment on the transmission from animals to humans of influenza of avian origin and on the risk SARS-CoV-2 infection in UK captive or wild Mustelidae populations presents to the UK human population. There is no direct exposure to infected fur farms for kept or wild mammals in the UK and there is no evidence to suggest an increased risk to wildlife.
International collaboration and knowledge exchange on avian influenza and other zoonotic pathogens is facilitated through discussions between the UK Chief Veterinary Officer and representatives from our national and international reference laboratories, and their counterparts in the EU and globally through the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), the QUADs alliance and allied projects. Including through the joint WOAH-FOA Scientific Network on animal influenza OFFLU.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his Department's policy is on the (a) import and (b) sale of fur in the UK.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have committed to explore potential action in relation to animal fur, as set out in the Action Plan for Animal Welfare. We are continuing to build our evidence base on the fur sector, which will be used to inform any future action on the fur trade. We have also commissioned a report from our expert Animal Welfare Committee into the issue of what constitutes responsible sourcing in the fur industry. This report will support our understanding of the fur industry and help inform our next steps.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress he has made on implementing the recommendations included in the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime report entitled Wildlife and Forest Crime Analytic Toolkit Report, published in 2021.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We welcomed the UN Office of Drugs and Crime report and the fact that it recognised the UK's global leadership in fighting wildlife and forestry crime. We invited the UN to undertake this analysis and we are proud to be the first G7 country to request this assessment.
We have carefully considered all the recommendations of the report and they are informing our work to help us build on the positive progress we have already made in tackling wildlife crime. This will include strategic engagement with our partners that have responsibilities where individual recommendations are concerned such as the devolved administrations, the Crown Prosecution Service, and the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU).
Many of the resourcing recommendations fall outside of Defra's remit but progress has already been made in response to the report. For example, in 2022 Defra more than doubled its funding of the NWCU to £1.2 million for the three-year period from 2022 to 2025, compared to £495,000 in the three years previous. Additionally, Border Force has increased numbers in their team specialising in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact on rural communities in (a) Wales and (b) England of anti-social behaviour associated with hunting with dogs.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Hunting Act 2004 makes it an offence to hunt a wild mammal with dogs except where it is carried out in accordance with the exemptions in the Act. Since the introduction of the Act, many hunt organisations across the country have worked hard to adapt their activities towards trail hunting, which is intended to retain important traditions as part of the fabric of rural life without harming wildlife. We recognise it is possible that dogs may on occasion pick up and follow the scent of live foxes. If this occurs, it is the responsibility of the dog owner to control their dog. Those found guilty under the Hunting Act are subject to the full force of the law, and enforcement is an operational matter for the police.