Supplementary memorandum submitted by
the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
1. The Animal Welfare Bill does not give
the RSPCA any new enforcement powers. References from Clause 11
onwards in the Bill to "inspectors" are to local authority
inspectors and not to RSPCA inspectors.
2. The Minister's reference to the RSPCA
having enforcement powers was a reference to the Protection of
Animals Act 2000. The effect of that Act is explained at pages
D1 and 2, paragraphs 1 to 4 of our submission. Its provisions
have been carried over into the Bill at Clauses 15 to 20.
3. The welfare offence at Clause 3 of the
Bill is not dependent in any way on the introduction of regulations
or codes of practice under Clauses 6 and 7 of the Bill. The welfare
offence, like all the other offences in Clauses 1, 2, 4 and 5
of the Bill, is a free-standing offence. The desirability of the
public understanding what is required of them demonstrates the
importance of Clause 3(4) which sets out five relevant principles
(albeit not in their correct form). For those who want more guidance,
there is already publicly available a wealth of information about
the care of different types of animals. Our proposed safeguard
of a written notice explaining how an animal's welfare needs have
been neglected, what should be done to remedy the failure and
how quickly will also help to inform the public.
4. In answer to concerns that might be raised
in the press about the RSPCA entering homes at all hours of the
day, our response would be as follows. The RSPCA has no power
of entry to investigate whether offences have been committed.
The police and local authorities do have such a power of entry
(Clause 14) but can only exercise it if they reasonably believe
an animal is suffering or likely to suffer. The power can only
be exercised in relation to a dwelling with a warrant.
5. The welfare offence already contains
qualifications to ensure that the welfare needs in Clause 3(4)
are not treated as being absolute. The animal keeper need only
take reasonable steps (Clause 3(1)) to ensure the animal's
welfare needs in an appropriate manner (Clause 3(4)).
6. For Committee members who are interested
in further examples where a welfare offence would have helped
but the cruelty offence did not, please see Appendix B2 in our
written submission.
7. Finally, whilst there is no list in the
Bill of animals which cannot be kept as pets, the effect of Clause
3 is that it will be illegal to keep as pets those animals whose
welfare needs cannot be met by the individual keeper. We believe
this is satisfactory since some animal keepers will have the knowledge,
time and financial resources to keep animals, which other keepers
might find difficult.
8 September 2004
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