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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to the licensing requirements for holders of (1) exotic, and (2) hybrid, cat species in England under the Zoo Licensing Act 1981.

Under the Zoo Licensing Act 1981 anyone exhibiting wild animals (other than in a pet shop or a static circus) for seven or more days in a year requires a licence. Wild animals are defined in the Act as any animal not normally domesticated in Great Britain, and therefore covers any ‘exotic’ animal or any animal where one of the parents is not normally domesticated in Great Britain. Zoos licensed under the Zoo Licensing Act 1981 are required to have regard to the Secretary of State’s Standards of Modern Zoo Practice. The Standards include detailed requirements in respect of the management of zoos and the animals within them. Under the current Standards, where a hybrid animal is transferred to another collection, if practical, the animal should be permanently sterilised prior to transfer.