Animal Welfare Bill

My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady Byford, said that she tabled her amendment as a reaction to the article in the Sunday Times. I am sure that the House is grateful to her for doing that and enabling this debate to take place, which has brought out serious welfare issues and has enabled us to hear from people who know a lot about the industry. I was interested to hear my noble friend Lord Falkland refer to certain parallels that the debate brought out for him. I appreciate the ironic smile of the noble Lord, Lord Lipsey, with regard to the issues mentioned in this debate and our debates on hunting. As regards wastage of dogs, what happens to hounds when they have finished drag hunting? Your Lordships debated at length what happened at the end of hounds’ working lives. No doubt the same issues that we have debated apply in that case. My noble friend said that horse racing does not have to deal with certain issues because race horses do not breed to the same extent as dogs. We have to decide whether we should include this new clause in the Bill or whether we regard the Bill as being adequate to address greyhound racing and other animal issues. I understand the frustration that it may take slightly longer to go down the route proposed by the noble Lord, Lord Lipsey, but I am sure that the noble Baroness is not promoting regulation in the Bill for every industry involving animals and entertainment. We are trying to draw up a broad framework. Therefore, I hope that the Minister will draw up a broad framework which encompasses not only greyhound racing but all those other sports that involve animals on which betting takes place.