Found: vast majority of UK cat owners and would help to curb kitten smuggling. 4 Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill

Found:  Dogs Trust strongly supports the recently tabled Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill

Found: breaches, and the unintended consequences of proposed legislation, like the Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats, and Ferrets) Bill

Found: The Government recently announced its support for the Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to reduce the number of dogs permitted to travel across international borders to three per non-commercial vehicle.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government is supporting the Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill. The Bill will close loopholes in the non-commercial pet travel rules that are abused by unscrupulous traders by reducing the number of dogs, cats and ferrets that can enter Great Britain in one non-commercial movement to five per vehicle or three per foot or air passenger.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his planned timetable is for bringing forward measures to ban (a) trophy hunting and (b) animal smuggling.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government committed to a hunting trophy import ban of endangered animals in its manifesto and we will deliver on this. Defra is engaging with relevant stakeholders to ensure that we can deliver on this commitment in the most effective way.

As outlined in our manifesto, we are committed to ending puppy smuggling. The Government is supporting the Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill, a Private Members’ Bill sponsored by the hon. Member for Winchester. The Bill will close loopholes in the non-commercial pet travel rules that are abused by unscrupulous traders and give the government powers to prevent the supply of low-welfare pets to the United Kingdom. We are fully supportive of this Bill and would like to see it pass through both Houses as soon as Parliamentary time allows.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to make importing dogs with cropped ears illegal.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government recently announced its support for the Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill, a Private Members’ Bill sponsored by the hon. Member for Winchester. The Bill will give the Government powers to prevent the supply of low-welfare pets to the United Kingdom. We will use these powers to prohibit the bringing into Great Britain of dogs with non-exempted mutilations such as cropped ears.

We are fully supportive of this Bill and would like to see it pass through both Houses as soon as Parliamentary time allows.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will introduce legislation to ban the commercial movement of pregnant dogs.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government recently announced its support for the Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill, a Private Members’ Bill sponsored by Dr Danny Chambers MP. The Bill will close loopholes in the non-commercial pet travel rules that are abused by unscrupulous traders and give the government powers to prevent the supply of low-welfare pets to the United Kingdom. We will use these powers to prohibit the bringing into Great Britain of heavily pregnant dogs and cats.

We are fully supportive of this Bill and would like to see it pass through both Houses as soon as Parliamentary time allows.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of allowing the importation of ethically-sourced puppies that are under six months old.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government recently announced its support for the Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill, a Private Members’ Bill sponsored by Dr Danny Chambers MP. The Bill will close loopholes in the non-commercial pet travel rules that are abused by unscrupulous traders and give the government powers to prevent the supply of low-welfare pets to the United Kingdom. We will use these powers to prohibit the bringing into Great Britain of puppies and kittens under six months old.

This prohibition and any appropriate exemptions will be delivered via secondary legislation at a later date. Any such exemptions will need to be finely balanced against the risk of creating loopholes that could be exploited.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to increase the age from which puppies can be imported to six months.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government recently announced its support for the Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill, a Private Members’ Bill sponsored by the hon. Member for Winchester. The Bill will give the Government powers to prevent the supply of low-welfare pets to the United Kingdom. We will use these powers to prohibit the import of puppies and kittens under six months old, dogs and cats which have been subject to non-exempted mutilations such as cropped ears, docked tails and declawing, and heavily pregnant dogs and cats.

We are fully supportive of this Bill and would like to see it pass through both Houses as soon as Parliamentary time allows.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to ban the importation of deliberately mutilated cats.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government recently announced its support for the Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill, a Private Members’ Bill sponsored by the hon. Member for Winchester. The Bill will give the Government powers to prevent the supply of low-welfare pets to the United Kingdom. We will use these powers to prohibit the import of puppies and kittens under six months old, dogs and cats which have been subject to non-exempted mutilations such as cropped ears, docked tails and declawing, and heavily pregnant dogs and cats.

We are fully supportive of this Bill and would like to see it pass through both Houses as soon as Parliamentary time allows.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to ban the (a) importation and (b) sale of dogs with (i) cropped ears and (ii) docked tails for cosmetic reasons.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government recently announced its support for the Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill, a Private Members’ Bill sponsored by the hon. Member for Winchester. The Bill will give the Government powers to prevent the supply of low-welfare pets to the United Kingdom. We will use these powers to prohibit the import of puppies and kittens under six months old, dogs and cats which have been subject to non-exempted mutilations such as cropped ears, docked tails and declawing, and heavily pregnant dogs and cats.

We are fully supportive of this Bill and would like to see it pass through both Houses as soon as Parliamentary time allows.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will introduce a ban on the imports of dogs with cropped ears as soon as possible.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government recently announced its support for the Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill, a Private Members’ Bill sponsored by the hon. Member for Winchester. The Bill will give the Government powers to prevent the supply of low-welfare pets to the United Kingdom. We will use these powers to prohibit the bringing into Great Britain of dogs with non-exempted mutilations such as cropped ears.

We are fully supportive of this Bill and would like to see it pass through both Houses as soon as parliamentary time allows.

Question

To ask the Scottish Government (a) what its position is on and (b) whether it plans to prepare a legislative consent memorandum for the UK Government's Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill.

Answered by Fairlie, Jim - Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity

The Scottish Government had previously intended to progress legislative consent in the Scottish Parliament for measures to restrict the importation and non-commercial movement of dogs, cats and ferrets into the United Kingdom, before the previous Bill fell due to the dissolution of the UK Parliament.

It is our intention to progress legislative consent in the Scottish Parliament for this Bill, subject to the final provisions of the Bill and agreement of the Scottish Government Cabinet Sub-Committee on Legislation.

By working to address this issue in the Bill, important safeguards for animal welfare can be extended to Scotland to ensure we continue to strive for the best possible welfare outcomes for all animals.