Animal Welfare Bill

moved Amendment No. 7: Page 7, line 13, at end insert- ““( ) For the purposes of identifying an animal's needs under subsections (1) and (2), the degree of domestication of the animal concerned shall be taken into account.”” The noble Baroness said: My Lords, I apologise that my three amendments have come in a row. I hope your Lordships are not bored of hearing my voice yet. This amendment goes to the very heart of how we believe the Bill will either be a success and produce really adequate tools when the Government produce the various codes on which it will rely or whether it will be inadequately drafted and therefore not able to do that. The amendment seeks further to define under Clause 9 the sort of animal that is being dealt with when, for example, taking into account the need for a suitable environment. In debating Amendment No. A1 we made passing reference to degrees of domestication. Where the animal is a long-time domestic companion to man, such as a cat or a dog, it is fairly easy to judge whether its needs are met against all the criteria in the clause. We are used to their needs, which have been known over time, and it will be clear when somebody is failing to provide a suitable diet or environment, for example. However, at the other end of the spectrum are those animals that have never fallen within the definition of ““domesticated”” and might be wild, caught animals. We debated in Committee the issues of wild, caught birds and of primates. The needs of those creatures will be vastly different. In Committee the Minister did not seem to accept the need for any differentiation. Having thought about the issue and worked on it over time, I believe much more strongly than I did that this amendment is absolutely essential to the adequate functioning of the Bill. My amendment will ensure that in the codes for non-domesticated species that are kept as pets—we have not been offered codes for them in the Bill—the fact that they are essentially wild or semi-domesticated animals will have to be taken into account. An episode that highlighted this vital distinction for me was when the Minister’s team of advisers was debating this issue with, I believe, the RSPCA. One of the team commented that there was no difference in welfare needs between domesticated horses and zebras. Self-evidently, there is a difference. Zebras have never been used to domestication of any sort. They have not been selected for generations to be comfortable with human company. Their needs under the five freedoms, especially the need to exhibit natural behaviours, will therefore be much more difficult to satisfy in a domestic setting than, say, those of a horse. My amendment does not say that domestication should be the only consideration for welfare needs—far from it. But there is a growing body of scientific backing to suggest that the needs of non-domesticated species will be different in terms of type and/or scale from those of domesticated animals. For example, in 2002, data produced by Mr Edward Price pointed to the conclusion that the single most important effect of domestication on behaviour is reduced emotional reactivity or responsiveness to fear-invoking stimuli—that is in scientific-speak. Evidently, if one has small children banging their drums, the family dog is unlikely to react because it is probably pretty used to it. However, if a fairly fragile animal has recently been imported into the household from essentially a wild background, it certainly will react. It will not have the room to flee from what it finds a frightening situation, therefore the requirement under Clause 9 to provide ““a suitable environment”” would not be met. The needs of African grey parrots are substantially greater than those of most domesticated species; for example, budgerigars. A parrot in captivity is routinely denied two of its most fundamental natural behaviours: flying long distances and socialisation. Research by Engbretson published this year by the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare suggests that denying a bird vocal, visual and physical contact with its conspecifics can contribute to abnormal behaviour and stereotypy. These birds normally congregate in large flocks. You can see that I am no scientist, but the point I am getting at is that no amount of human contact can make up for the fact that these animals are being denied their normal behaviour, and therefore their needs would be unlikely to be met under Clause 9 if you could take into account the degree of domestication, because it is a key concept in assessing suitability of environment. Indeed, in preparing this amendment, the concept of domestication has very helpfully already been detailed in the guidance notes to the 2002 amendment to the Zoo Licensing Act 1981, so the Government have already considered the question of degree. Five categories are set out, ranging from true domestic breeds to true wild species. The work has been done on this. It is not as if the Government have to start from scratch; they have definitions they can choose to use. The Bill is not an exercise in artistic draftsmanship, and those who come to interpret it really need to be able to appreciate and put into practice the difference in the standard of care required by best practice to cater particularly for non-domesticated species. Noble Lords who were here for the discussion in Committee on the keeping of primates as pets, for example, will have appreciated it. I will not rehearse any of the arguments I used then, because of course we are on Report. All I am asking the Government to do now is to recognise that there will have to be a very careful interpretation of the Bill, and to protect those most vulnerable animals that I believe they are as interested in protecting as I am. I beg to move.