I receive a number of campaign emails regarding animal welfare. Let me assure you that I remain committed to the highest standards of animal welfare and we are clear that everyone who owns or keeps animals is responsible for their welfare. Those who abuse and inflict cruelty on animals will be punished. Please see below my position on a range of issues that are raised.
CCTV relies on slaughterhouses to monitor their staff appropriately, so I am not currently convinced of the need to require it by law. In January, however, the Farm Animal Welfare Committee began a review of the evidence and I will be interested to read its report.
Using animals in scientific research makes a small but essential contribution to our understanding of diseases and ability to develop treatments. Nevertheless, scientific advances present significant opportunities to replace, reduce and refine animal use to minimise suffering. In February the Government published a plan to achieve this, which you can find by clicking on the following link:
Seal conservation is a devolved matter so I can only respond with respect to England. Approximately 85 per cent of the UK seal population is in Scotland, where there is separate legislation for seal protection. Under the Conservation of Seals Act 1970 it is lawful to kill a seal if it is deemed to pose a threat to fishing operations. Before this is considered measures must be taken to prevent damage occurring, and the seal must be in the vicinity of the equipment. Legislation therefore only allows limited, local action to be taken against individual problem seals. I believe this strikes the right balance between the conservation and welfare of seals, and the needs of the fishing industry.
The Animal Welfare Act 2006 safeguards the welfare of pheasants bred for sport by making it an offence to cause unnecessary suffering. I would urge anyone with evidence of any breaches to report it to the local authority.
We remains fully committed to introducing a ban on wild animals in circuses and supported the Private Member's Bill, the Wild Animals in Circuses Bill, in the last Parliament. Due to lack of Parliamentary time, this Bill did not pass, nevertheless we pledged to legislate on this in our Manifesto and I remain wholly confident that this commitment will be met.
Lastly I understand there is no evidence suggesting crustaceans or decapods can experience pain, so do not see the need to extend the Animal Welfare Act to them.