Animal Welfare Bill

My Lords, I, too, welcome the arrival of Report stage of this extremely important Bill, and look forward to debating the issues that we did not resolve in Committee. We have had a long Recess and it is quite hard to cast one’s mind back, but on the other hand, that gap has allowed the Government to make helpful progress. I thank the Minister and his team for the progress made to date and what we have received on it. The noble Duke raises some extremely interesting questions in his amendment. Indeed, he goes to the heart of my amendment, on the degree of domestication, which I shall speak to later. He referred to hill sheep—perhaps a hefted flock, which pretty much looks after itself day to day. I could speak, for example, about the difference between the wild ponies of Exmoor, which are very different from thoroughbreds, which need a rug in chilly wind or weather. The noble Duke is right to mention the problem of undergrazing, whether on mountain, moorland or—where I spent some of the Recess—in the Culm grassland of Devon. That area is experiencing undergrazing not overgrazing, with all the knock-on effects on species that—people may not even appreciate—depend on grazing. For example, we are used to hearing curlews on estuaries, but they rely on a suitable site to nest. A site that has become semi-scrub and brambly rather than rough grassland will not be suitable. The question of how animals are treated and how the public will react to those animals to which the noble Duke referred is critical. I very much look forward to hearing the Minister’s reply on these issues.