6 Nov 2025
Officials believe new proposals that would enable animals to be tracked through their lives would help both their owners and the veterinary professionals caring for them.
Allister Webb
Job Title
A leading animal charity has hailed proposals for a new system to track pets throughout their lives as a potential “information revolution” for vets and owners alike.
The idea is among 15 recommendations in the RSPCA’s new Animal Futures report, which is being unveiled at its annual Wilberforce Lecture in London tonight, 6 November.
Charity officials backed the plan after it was recommended by a Citizens’ Assembly which spent several weeks considering key welfare issues earlier this year.
They believe such a scheme, backed by a national database, could also improve care by giving clinicians access to more information about the animals presented to them.
Gemma Hope, the group’s assistant director of advocacy, policy and prevention, said: “This could support informed conversations with clients about the health of pets in what could be an information revolution for the entire pet sector.
“Certainly, this is a recommendation that should make governments think – and the RSPCA supports moves for more effective regulation and oversight of pet ownership and breeding.
“A single, centralised database with detailed pet information could be a game changer for all those interested in responsible ownership and better welfare outcomes.”
The report also contains a separate call by the assembly for the establishment of a new dedicated regulatory body for pets, which it believes would enable the “consistent and focused enforcement” of pet ownership, welfare and breeding regulations.
Although that is not currently formal RSPCA policy, officials said they welcomed “bold ideas that aim to achieve greater consistency and coherence in a fragmented regulatory system”.
The charity is also set to explore the possibility of setting up what is described as a “Community Habitat Service”, which would see welfare groups collaborate with local councils to restore priority areas in need of support.
Many of the document’s other recommendations cover areas that are already of significant interest within the veterinary sector, including tougher wildlife laws, better welfare standards for farmed animals plus clearer welfare labelling and a ban on activities where animals are shot for sport.
But it also calls for more to be done to raise public awareness of the challenges of pet ownership, animal welfare to be taught in schools, fairer prices for higher welfare meat plus moves to support alternative protein sources.
Ms Hope said the assembly’s work, along with thousands of others who took part in a Big Conversation programme that helped to shape the report, had demonstrated the public’s desire for a “fairer, more sustainable and more compassionate society”.
She added: “The message of this assembly is clear – animal welfare really matters to people and the government needs to take notice.
“They are not just concerned about the pets who share their home but farmed animal welfare and the wild animals in their communities.”
