Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
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 reduce cat and kitten smuggling from overseas.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Criminal offences already exist for cats and kittens brought into this country in breach of current import requirements.
In autumn 2021 we consulted on further proposed changes to the rules governing the commercial and non-commercial movement of cats, dogs and ferrets into Great Britain.
The consultation sought views on whether maintaining the existing requirements in relation to cats was the right approach. We are carefully reviewing the feedback from our consultation and wider engagement with stakeholders in the animal welfare sector, including Cats Protection, and a summary will be published in due course.
Mentions:
1: Anna Firth (Con - Southend West) of pounds, are among the cats being stolen. - Speech Link
2: Daniel Zeichner (Lab - Cambridge) Cats Protection tells me that“with 11 million owned cats in the UK, we know how much cats mean to families - Speech Link
3: Christopher Chope (Con - Christchurch) against including cats in the Bill, but I have been nervous about doing so when many cats are still not - Speech Link
4: Ben Everitt (Con - Milton Keynes North) Dogs spend much more time indoors than cats. Try keeping cats indoors. - Speech Link
Mentions:
1: Lord Black of Brentwood (Con - Life peer) This recognises the fact that, unlike dogs, cats roam without their owners. - Speech Link
2: Lord Blencathra (Con - Life peer) Do not tell me that that is interfering with the natural behaviour of cats. - Speech Link
3: Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab - Life peer) They include Battersea Cats & Dogs Home, Cats Protection, Blue Cross, the RSPCA and others—and the - Speech Link
4: Lord Douglas-Miller (Con - Life peer) and dogs, in that the cat abduction offence is limited to the taking, only, of cats. - Speech Link
A Bill to make provision for and in connection with restricting the importation and non-commercial movement of dogs, cats and ferrets.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of cases of feline infectious peritonitis in Cyprus on (a) biosecurity and (b) feline health in the UK.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A single nine-month-old kitten imported from Cyprus in August has been diagnosed with Feline Infectious Peritonitis as a result of being infected with a strain of Feline Coronavirus contracted in Cyprus. While this virus is estimated to have killed 8,500 cats in Cyprus (in the first half of this year, mostly in the large feral cat population) the risk to UK cats is very low.
We will continue to use our established systems to monitor feline coronavirus through our Veterinary Risk Group and Animal Disease Policy Group, and review our domestic or import policies should risks change.
Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans she has to bring forward legislative proposals to make the abduction of cats a criminal offence.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
We would be supportive of legislation on pet abduction when parliamentary time allows. We have listened carefully to views expressed on the pet abduction measures during the passage of the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill including adding cats. We will take this feedback into consideration when delivering any measure.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many cats travelled to the UK under the Pet Travel Scheme via (a) sea, (b) tunnel and (c) air in each year between 2013 and 2022.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The total number of cats that travelled under the pet travel scheme is as follows:
Year | Air | Sea | Tunnel | Total |
2018 | 8,530 | 8,449 | 12,591 | 29,570 |
2019 | 9,776 | 9,764 | 12,767 | 32,307 |
2020 | 9,354 | 5,235 | 12,545 | 27,134 |
2021 | 11,445 | 5,928 | 11,768 | 29,141 |
2022 | 9,819 | 15,500 | 14,238 | 39,557 |
This is a summary of cats entering Great Britain under the Pet Travel Scheme via an approved route. It does not include pet animals that enter other parts of the UK (such as Northern Ireland or the Channel Islands) or pet animals that enter Great Britain from other parts of the UK. It does not include any animals that enter Great Britain under the Pet Travel Scheme from the Republic of Ireland (as these movements do not need to follow an approved route).
The data regarding the Pet Travel Scheme covers pets entering Great Britain and is based on information provided by checkers employed by approved carriers of pet animals.
We do not hold any data prior to 2018.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with animal charities on the theft of (a) pedigree and (b) other cats.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The cross-Government Pet Theft Taskforce published their findings in September 2021 with input from animal welfare groups and experts in relevant fields including the issue of cat theft.
We would be supportive of legislation on pet abduction when parliamentary time allows. We have listened carefully to views expressed on the pet abduction measures during the passage of the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill including adding cats. We will take this feedback into consideration when delivering this measure.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
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 tackle the reported threat of the hybrid of an existing feline coronavirus arriving in the UK.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are aware of this case of Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) in an imported kitten from Cyprus and the subsequent diagnostic testing and sequencing carried out at Edinburgh University and the Roslin Institute.
Feline Infectious Peritonitis is caused by a mutation in a common feline coronavirus (FeC). This strain of virus is unrelated to those which cause SARS, SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19 in humans) or MERS. Most infections with feline coronavirus cause a mild diarrhoea but sometimes, if the virus mutates within the cat, it can cause a severe infection and in vulnerable kittens can cause high mortality. FeC is often found in multiple cat households, cat shelters and feral cat colonies, as is the case in Cyprus where many cats have died of FIP.
At present, we understand this is an isolated case and there has been no transmission to other cats in contact with the kitten, but we are following the work closely through APHA’s Small Animal Expert Group to understand whether this has the potential to become an issue for the UK cat population. FeC is not a notifiable or reportable pathogen in the UK and there are no trade rules or quarantine rules for cat imports relating to FeC or FIP.
There are guidelines provided by the British Small Animal Veterinary Association for how to deal with outbreaks in cat shelters, where spread can happen quickly and with certain highly pathogenic strains, can lead to high fatality rates.
Mentions:
1: Anna Firth (Con - Southend West) Clarke and the rest of the team at Pet Theft Awareness, the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation, Cats - Speech Link
2: Natalie Elphicke (Con - Dover) She and I have discussed the issue of indoor pedigree cats, particularly ragdolls, which are beloved - Speech Link
3: Mark Spencer (Con - Sherwood) It is right that there is no detaining offence for cats. - Speech Link