This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Proposals to improve animal protection
16/05/2005
Ross Finnie today announced a crackdown on animal
suffering.
The Minister for Environment and Rural Development
published legislative proposals to protect pets and
livestock by placing a duty on all owners to care for their
animals properly.
The draft Animal Health and Welfare Bill also contains
provisions to help protect the country against any future
disease outbreak, and to enable swift action to tackle
disease should an outbreak occur.
The main provisions in the draft Bill will:
- Introduce a Duty of Care on animal keepers;
- Allow animals to be taken into care before they
start to suffer;
- Raise the age for buying animals from 12 to
16;
- Ban the giving of animals as prizes.
Speaking on a visit to the Scottish SPCA welfare centre
in Balerno. Mr Finnie said:
"I want animal suffering to be a thing of the past in
Scotland. This draft Bill will put in place measures to
help this happen.
"Introducing a duty of care means animal keepers are
legally obliged to look after their animals properly and
ensure they do not suffer. When people do not comply with
this we will be able to remove the animal before it starts
to suffer.
"Other measures such as raising the minimum age for
buying a pet and banning the giving of pets as prizes give
the clear message that owning a pet is a responsibility and
commitment that must be understood and thought through.
"I would strongly encourage all those with views to
respond to our consultation on the draft Bill. This will
help us ensure we put in place the right legislation to
protect Scotland's animals."
The draft Bill will also
- Retain a specific offence of unnecessary
suffering;
- Introduce a general prohibition on
mutilations;
- Strengthen the law on prohibiting animal
fighting;
- Ban the giving of animals as prizes;
- Allow a wider range of animal business to be
regulated;
- Regulate animal gatherings;
- Introduce mandatory bio-security codes;
- Extend powers of slaughter in any exotic disease
outbreak;
- Update the powers of entry in any outbreak
- Give the power to inspect vehicles in any
outbreak.
The Scottish Executive consulted on the Health
provisions on February 28, 2003 and the Welfare provisions
on March 31, 2004.
The Consultation will end on July 4, 2005.
The Scottish Executive are holding four open meetings
across Scotland to allow people to find out more about the
draft Bill and express their views. These will take place:
June 15, Thistle Hotel, Milburn Road, Inverness; June 16,
Marriott Hotel, Overton Circle, Dyce, Aberdeen; June 21,
Grosvenor Hotel, Grosvenor Terrace, Glasgow; June 22,
Holiday Inn, Corstorphine Road, Edinburgh.