Animal Welfare Bill

My Lords, we have heard of the good will of the noble Lord and all those involved with greyhound racing, along with their aspirations for the welfare of greyhounds, but neither he nor the noble Lord, Lord Lipsey, have said anything to us about the scale of what we are looking at. The article in the Sunday Times drew to our attention the scale of redundant superfluous greyhounds. Unlike race horses, dogs have litters, which adds to the problem. It seems to me that the public are alerted to the fact that large numbers of dogs are bred uniquely for racing and that those that do not reach the appropriate standard will become redundant. The intention is to rehome them. Some people take them and they often make good pets, but the sheer number of dogs is huge. That has not yet been mentioned. There is no way in which any body, no matter how well disposed, will farm out the number of dogs which are no longer valuable as racing animals. A balance needs to be drawn here, as in everything. These dogs are bred to race. People gamble on those races. The same applies to horse racing. We have to accept that animals which no longer race and cannot be found homes will be destroyed. That is unacceptable to many people. We have to find a balance. I do not take a moral view on the issue. Nobody is suggesting that we should consider banning dog racing because of the horror of all these animals having to be destroyed because they are no longer of any use—far from it. What we have to decide today is whether the way of dealing with the matter suggested by the noble Lord, Lord Lipsey, or that of the noble Baroness is right. I tend to go towards that suggested by the noble Lord, Lord Lipsey, because I believe that it would be less bureaucratic, but can his method deal with unlicensed tracks, as many noble Lords have said? Like other noble Lords, I look forward to hearing what the Minister has to say on this. What he says will determine the way in which I shall vote, if there should be a vote.