Cats: Animal Breeding
(asked on 16th October 2024) - View Source
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the prevalence of kitten farming; and whether they will take steps to address it.
Answered by
Baroness Hayman of Ullock
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018, anyone breeding and selling cats as pets needs a valid licence from their local authority. Licensees must meet strict statutory minimum welfare standards which are enforced by local authorities who have powers to issue, refuse or revoke licences.
Local authorities are charged with enforcing the 2018 Regulations and may retain records of enforcement activity relating to illegal cat breeding. Information about local authority enforcement activity is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.
It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to carry on a licensable activity without a licence. Upon conviction, an offender faces 6 month's imprisonment, an unlimited fine, or both. Section 30 of the Animal Welfare Act allows for local authorities to prosecute for any offences under that Act.