Animal Welfare Act

Animal Welfare Codes of Practice

April 6th 2010 sees the lauch of new Defra backed Animal Welfare Codes.

Animal welfare organisations and vets helped Defra draw up the codes of practice for dogs, cats and equines, designed to give people information about pet care including diet and exercise, and to explain owners’ and keepers’ legal duties to their animals.

The new codes cover:

The Welfare of Dogs
The welfare of cats
The welfare of Horses, Ponies, Donkeys and their Hybrids
and also the Welfare of Privately Kept Non-Human Primates

The codes are applicable in England only (Wales and Scotland have their own equivalent codes).

Animal welfare minister Jim Fitzpatrick says

'We’re a nation of animal lovers, but sadly too many people still don’t know how to look after their pets properly and get things wrong. It’s the animals who suffer as a result.'

'The new Codes of Practice contain clear and straightforward advice, supported by organisations including the RSPCA, Dogs Trust, PDSA, British Veterinary Association and British Horse Society, and they don’t place any new requirements on owners and keepers.  They are designed to explain to people their responsibility and legal duty of care to their pets, and to help protect animals from pain, injury and disease.'

Although it will not be an offence to fail to comply with the Codes of Practice they could be used as evidence in court to support a case of poor welfare brought under the Animal Welfare Act which may lead to a prosecution for animal cruelty.

The Animal Welfare Act (see article below), introduced in April 2007, created a duty on anyone responsible for an animal to take all reasonable steps to ensure that the needs and welfare of the animal are met. Anyone convicted of animal cruelty under the Act  could face a prison sentence or a fine up to £20,000. There were more than 1,200 prosecutions for animal cruelty in 2007.

The codes of practice for dogs, cats and equines can be accessed from the links below:

Animal Welfare, the Law and You!

From 6 April 2007 (and in Wales from 27 March 2007), animal welfare law was improved.

Not only is it against the law to be cruel to an animal, you must also ensure that all the welfare needs of your animals are met.

These include the need:

• For a suitable environment (place to live)
• For a suitable diet
• To exhibit normal behaviour patterns
• To be housed with, or apart from, other animals (if applicable)
• To be protected from pain, injury, suffering and disease

The law also prohibits giving animals as prizes to unaccompanied children under 16 and increases to 16 the minimum age at which a person can buy an animal.

Anyone who is cruel to an animal, or does not provide for its welfare needs, may be banned from owning animals, fined up to £20,000 and/or sent to prison.

Owners have a “Duty of care” to the animals they keep which is a legal phrase meaning that owners have an obligation to do something.  Prior to the Animal Welfare Act 2006, people only had a duty to ensure that an animal didn’t suffer unnecessarily. The new Act keeps this duty but also imposes a broader duty of care on anyone responsible for an animal to take reasonable steps to ensure that the animal’s needs are met. This means that a person has to look after the animal’s welfare as well as ensure that it does not suffer.

The Act defines “animal” as referring to any living vertebrate animal, although there is provision to extend this if future scientific evidence shows that other kinds of animals are also capable of experiencing pain and suffering.  Parts of the Act apply to any animal (for example, not using animals to fight), but other parts only to “protected animals” or to animals for which a person is “responsible”.

A “protected animal” is one that: is normally domesticated in the British Isles, either permanently or temporarily under a person’s control, or is not living in a wild state. The duty of care (the need to provide for an animal’s welfare) applies to animals for which a person is responsible.

A person is responsible for an animal if he or she is: the owner of the animal; in charge of the animal, for example an owner of boarding kennels; a parent or guardian of a person under 16 who is responsible for the animal. A person can be responsible for an animal on a temporary basis; for example, looking after a friend’s cat whilst they are on holiday.

The Act doesn’t apply to animals used in licensed laboratory work. These animals are protected under a different law: the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.

For further information on the UK Animal Welfare Act visit www.defra.gov.uk