Dog Fighting

(asked on 18th June 2019) - View Source

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 is taking to prevent people giving away dogs online to tackle the dog fighting industry.


Answered by
David Rutley Portrait
David Rutley
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This question was answered on 26th June 2019

The Government abhors the mistreatment of animals, including organised dog fighting. It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to be involved in or to promote animal fighting including dog fighting. The Government has announced it will increase the maximum custodial penalty for animal cruelty, including animal fighting, from six months to five years’ imprisonment and legislation will be introduced as soon as possible.

In relation to online advertising of pets and other animals, the Government has worked with the Pet Advertising Advisory Group (PAAG - a group of animal welfare, veterinary and animal keeping interests) who promote the responsible advertising of pet animals. Five online animal adverting platforms have adopted PAAG’s minimum standards for advertising animals which are endorsed by the Government. The minimum standards include that the websites run automated checks for key words and terms such as banned dog breeds, and filter for misleading or inappropriate adverts which are then removed. The websites must exclude any advert where there is a reasonable concern for the health and welfare of the animal involved and provide a clearly visible function for purchasers to report illegal or inappropriate adverts. The Government will continue to work with PAAG to encourage more online advertising platforms to sign up to PAAG’s minimum standards.

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