Charity fears ‘empty promises’ as time ticks away on Kept Animals Bill

A charity has warned that long-sought animal welfare legislation could be axed early next month without urgent Government intervention.

Dogs Trust officials have claimed the Kept Animals Bill is likely to be dropped unless its remaining parliamentary stages are completed by 8 June.

Defra has refused to be drawn on the claims, insisting that Government commitments on animal welfare issues will be met.

But Dogs Trust veterinary director Paula Boyden, who hand-delivered a letter to 10 Downing Street on the issue this week, said ministers must now act.

‘Empty promises’

Dr Boyden said: “The Kept Animals Bill has been brought up in Parliament no less than 35 times – but each time it’s either been ignored, or a non-committal response has been given.

“It certainly feels, at the moment, as if the Government made some empty promises in their manifesto – I very much hope they’ll prove me wrong.”

The 8 June date is two years on from the date of the bill’s first reading in Parliament and the trust claims Defra representatives have advised them that a carry over motion, which expires after two years, requires all parliamentary stages to be completed by then.

A business statement, setting out the forthcoming parliamentary timetable, is due to be delivered in the Commons this Thursday (25 May) ahead of the Whitsun recess, which ends on 5 June.

‘Fully committed’

A Defra spokesperson said parliamentary business would be set out “in the usual way”, adding: “The UK has some of the highest animal welfare standards in the world and we are fully committed to delivering our manifesto commitments on animal welfare.”

But the comments followed further warnings about the potential consequences of the bill not proceeding in another current area of major welfare concern, ear cropping, during the recent BVA Live event at Birmingham’s NEC.

Although the mutilation is already illegal in the UK, the bill would also outlaw the importation of dogs with cropped ears, which is not currently an offence.

PDSA senior vet Sean Wensley said the practice was considered “normal and acceptable” in the US and it was “no leap” to imagine the trend could become established here.

He said: “We could very quickly start to see them normalised and then we’ve got a much harder battle on our hands from an animal welfare perspective.”