Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department plans to take to address the problem of horse abandonment.

There are many underlying issues which result in horses being abandoned and neglected. In some cases it seems owners are struggling to cope with the costs involved in keeping a horse. In other cases, irresponsible breeders and horse traders are deliberately placing horses on land to secure grazing for their animals at no cost to themselves. In the Government's view the way to address these problems is to tackle the perpetrators directly. Anti-social behaviour orders have been successfully used in Wales and in Bristol to address fly grazing, and there is likely to be an offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 where a horse is abandoned. The Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 brings forward new streamlined measures to tackle anti-social behaviour, of which the practice of fly-grazing of horses is a prime example. Where fly grazing is a particular problem, we encourage the local authorities and police to work together with landowners, farmers and welfare charities to identify the culprits and address their behaviour directly using these powers. In a number of cases and to encourage joined up working, protocols have been drawn up by some local authorities to summarise the action that can be taken under existing legislation. Defra is supplementing that guidance with advice on the new measures in the 2014 Act which come into force later this year.