Memorandum submitted by the Captive Animals'
Protection Society (CAPS)
1. EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
1.1 CAPS welcome the updating of animal
welfare legislation.
1.2 The ban on the sale of pets to people
under 16 years old and the ban on giving animals as prizes are
two of the measures that CAPS supports.
1.3 Pet fairs are currently illegal and
to legalise them through licensing would be a retrograde step
for animal welfare.
CAPS has monitored many of the pet fairs that
have taken place and have gathered evidence of animal welfare
and public health problems. Animals are housed in inadequate accommodation
and subjected to excessive handling and noise. Inadequate advice
is often provided to customers, likely resulting in suffering
and death of animals.
Pet fairs pose a risk to public health through
the spread of zoonotic diseases.
CAPS oppose the proposal to licence pet fairs
and we encourage the removal of the licensing proposal from the
Animal Welfare Bill.
1.4 The draft Bill provides no real protection
for animals used in circuses.
Public opinion, based on information gathered
over many years by animal protection organisations, is largely
against animal circuses. Wild and domestic animals all suffer
in circuses through transportation, temporary accommodation and
cruel training methods.
Other countries have taken legislative action
to prohibit animal use in circuses.
CAPS strongly recommend legislation to prohibit
the use of all animals in circuses.
2. INTRODUCTION
2.1 Like many other animal protection organisations,
CAPS welcomes the updating of animal welfare legislation and believes
that there are some important and positive suggestions in the
draft Animal Welfare Bill that will help protect animals from
cruelty.
2.2 The ban on the sale of pets to people
under 16 years old (Section 4) and the ban on giving animals as
prizes (Section 5) are two of the measures that CAPS supports.
2.3 There are two issues of particular concern
to CAPS that the draft Bill fails to deal with adequately: pet
fairs (markets) and the use of animals in circuses.
3. PET FAIRS
3.1 Pet fairs are temporary events, usually
lasting just one day, sometimes two, where animals are sold as
pets. They are held in public places such as community or social
centres and animal breeders or dealers gather to sell animals
to the public. Many of these traders are commercial traders, some
of whom may be licensed to sell animals as pets from a fixed establishment.
The species of animals sold may vary, but most
of these fairs sell birds and reptiles.
3.2 Currently, under the 1983 Amendment
to the Pet Animals Act 1951, the sale of animals from stalls in
a public place is illegal. Therefore, such fairs are prohibited
by most councils, although some councils have allowed them, sometimes
by providing a temporary pet shop licence.
3.3 The draft Animal Welfare Bill clearly
seeks to legalise these pet fairs by allowing them to be licensed.
This is a clear retrograde step for animal welfare and appears
to be as a result of the pressure applied to Defra by the pet
industry. Even worse, it appears that the so-called protection
given to animals on sale in such fairs will be based on Codes
of Practice modelled on the pet industry's own guidelines.
3.4 The legalisation of pet fairs is wholly
inconsistent with the Bill's objective of advancing animal welfare.
3.5 For several years CAPS has investigated
many of these pet fairs all across Britain. The events investigated
have ranged from small members-only fairs to the largest fairs
in the country. At each and every one of these fairs we have catalogued
many serious animal welfare and public health concerns, even at
the events which were supposedly monitored by vets and council
officers.
3.6 Pet fairs, by their very nature of being
temporary, cannot adequately provide for the welfare of the animals,
particularly when one considers the specific needs of the exotic
species on sale. Problems include: animals housed in small and
inadequate enclosures (such as small plastic containers for snakes),
serious overcrowding, excessive handling by traders and customers,
long distance travelling to and from the fair, and inadequate
provisions for food, water, exercise, controlled lighting and
temperatures etc.
3.7 Even the traders themselves have admitted
to CAPS investigators that the animals are "stressed"
by the conditions, particularly those animals who are wild-caught.
Bird fairs in particular have a lot of wild-caught animals on
sale: the UK's largest bird fair, the National Cage and Aviary
Birds Exhibition, has an estimated 100,000 birds on sale, 50,000
to 70,000 of whom (according to an expert ornithologist who has
attended the fair) would have been wild-caught.
3.8 Investigations of these fairs by CAPS
and other organisations have revealed the totally inadequate advice
and information provided by stall-holders to potential customers.
Without knowing, and being prepared for, an animal's complex physical
and biological needs, the purchaser will unwittingly cause cruelty
to the animal. Many "exotic pets" are dumped on sanctuaries,
or left to die, after their "owners" realise they cannot
adequately care for them.
3.9 Test-purchases of animals at pet fairs
have revealed that animals on sale are sometimes ill and many
will die within a short period of purchase. It is hard to imagine
a situation more suitable for creating and spreading disease amongst
animals than a pet fair, where animals are subjected to high levels
of stress (through transportation, inadequate housing, noise,
handling etc). Salmonellosis in reptiles and psittacosis in birds
are just two of the infections that are likely to affect animals
at pet fairs. Both can spread rapidly amongst the animals in close
confinement at pet fairs.
3.10 Zoonotic disease—diseases that
spread between humans and non-human animals—are a serious
risk at pet fairs. Salmonellosis and psittacosis are two of the
pathogens that can easily spread to humans, both with serious
consequences. The problem is not simply over once the fair ends.
As these fairs take place in public buildings, the risk to the
public can remain as pathogens can remain, for example on tables
and door handles.
The keeping of exotic pets in general poses
a serious risk of zoonotic disease; pet fairs increase the potential
for zoonotic diseases to spread widely amongst the visiting public.
3.11 There is no animal welfare benefit
whatsoever in licensing pet fairs or allowing unlicensed members-only
fairs; in fact it would be a huge retrograde step. CAPS encourage
the removal of the licensing proposal from the Animal Welfare
Bill.
4. USE OF
ANIMALS IN
CIRCUSES
4.1 According to the Defra publication "The
Consultation on an Animal Welfare Bill: An Analysis of the Replies'
(August 2002), 79% of those who offered an opinion supported a
ban on the use of animals in circuses.
4.2 There is overwhelming evidence of the
cruelty of using animals in circuses. Such is the level of public
opposition to the use of animals in circuses that the public increasingly
avoids those circuses that use animals and instead only visit
all-human circuses. Many local authorities across Britain have
also acted by prohibiting the use of performing animals on council-owned
land. Many private landowners have also stopped renting land to
animal circuses.
4.3 The impact of these combined policies
of the public, local authorities and private landowners has resulted
in a dramatic decrease in the use of animals in circuses, particularly
the use of wild animals. Between 1997 and 2002 the number of circuses
using animals halved, from 23 to 12, while the number of animal-free
circuses doubled from 10 to 21. In 2004 there are only eight British
circuses known to be using animals. Many of the circuses still
using animals in 2004 have reduced the number of animal acts,
and only three are known to use any wild animals. However, this
decline should not be used as an excuse to do nothing. In fact,
the Animal Welfare Bill provides the opportunity for the Government
to show its commitment to animal welfare by prohibiting animal
use in circuses.
4.4 Circuses by their very nature are unable
to adequately provide for the needs of animals because they travel
from town to town, usually on a weekly basis. Circuses often only
stay at one site for six days, and as they typically tour for
most of the year (from February or March right through to December
or January), the animals are confined to the same conditions year
round. Animals may spend a whole day each week confined to transport
vehicles.
4.5 Accommodation provided for the animals
has to be temporary—small stalls for ponies and horses for
example. Studies have also shown that animals are provided little
or no opportunity to exercise and little opportunity to express
their natural behaviours.
4.6 The training of animals for circus performances
is something that is rarely seen by anyone not directly involved
with the circus industry. While a certain amount of training takes
place throughout the touring season, most occurs at the circus
training base (usually referred to as the "winter quarters").
4.7 The only in-depth study of the training
of animals for circuses was carried out by the organisation Animal
Defenders. Between 1996 and 1998 they placed undercover investigators
in British circuses. According to Animal Defenders "day-to-day
violence towards animals in the circus industry is both accepted,
and commonplace." Despite the fact that much of this violence
is legal because it has been considered that "necessary force"
can be used to train animals (much to the shame of current animal
welfare legislation), the undercover investigation resulted in
the convictions for cruelty of three people. One of these people
was sent to prison, such was the level of violence he perpetrated
on animals at the circus winter quarters.
This cruelty only came to light because an animal
protection organisation had placed undercover investigators in
the circus industry.
4.8 Cruelty and suffering is not restricted
to wild animals. Domestic animals are also subjected to the same
levels of restrictions and cruelty.
4.9 It is clear that the welfare of animals
in circuses cannot be met, and cannot be protected through licensing.
The draft Animal Welfare Bill recommends that by 2009 circus winter
quarters should be licensed (although no details are given of
what conditions would be required). There would also be inspections
of circuses/winter quarters once every 18 months, clearly an inadequate
provision that would do little to protect animal welfare.
4.10 The Bill also provides for Codes of
Practice on all areas of animal use to be introduced. Last year
Defra distributed to all Local Authorities the voluntary codes
written by the Association of Circus Proprietors (despite opposition
from leading animal protection organisations). The ACP represents
just a few of the remaining animal circuses, and the codes were
written by a circus director who appeared as a defence witness
in the above mentioned court case where three people were convicted
of cruelty. In the notes to the new Bill (Annex A) it is suggested
that the ACP codes may form the basis of government codes on animals
in circuses.
4.11 Nothing short of a complete ban on
the use of all animals in circuses can be seen as acceptable.
The proposals contained in the Animal Welfare Bill will allow
circuses to continue to use any animal they like, transport them
from site to site, keep them in cages or chained up, all for the
amusement of the public. Then from 2009 all they need to do is
buy a licence to carry on the same activities.
4.12 Many governments around the world have
taken notice of public opinion and detailed evidence about the
cruelty of using animals in circuses, and have taken legislative
action. In May 2004 a new animal protection law was introduced
in Austria; as part of this new law the use of all wild animals
in circuses has been prohibited from January 2005. Other countries
who have banned the use of wild animals in circuses include Singapore
and India.
4.13 There is no need for animals to be
used in circuses, and many circuses who have used animals in the
past have adapted to become all-human performances. Such circuses
have actually benefited by being able to access more (and better
quality) sites and attract audiences who would normally avoid
circuses that use animals.
4.14 CAPS strongly recommend legislation
to prohibit the use of all animals in circuses.
25 August 2004
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