The Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) has welcomed the section of the draft Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Act which will provide police forces in England and Wales with greater powers to tackle livestock worrying.
The FUW has lobbied for changes in legislation through its ‘Your Dog, Your Responsibility’ campaign in 2019 and ‘Livestock Worrying - Do you know your rights?’ webinar more recently where PC Dave Allen explained the work of the National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC).
A report published by the NPCC group in 2018 identified that from September 2013 to 2017, there were a total of 1705 recorded cases of livestock worrying where 1928 animals were killed, and 1614 injured, at an estimated cost of £250,000 in the police force areas of North Yorkshire, Devon, Cornwall, Sussex and North Wales. Sections 26 to 41 of the Act are based on the findings and recommendations of the NPCC group report.
For livestock keepers, more animals will be covered by the Act including Alpacas and game birds, the definition of Agricultural Land will include, for example, roads that livestock are moved along, and the list of relevant livestock will be able to be amended by the Secretary of State for England and the Rural Affairs Minister for Wales to reflect future farming needs without the need to change primary legislation.
The police will have the power to seize a dog and retain it, take DNA samples from suspected dogs and apply for a warrant to seize, identify or extract DNA from a suspected dog.
Courts will have the power to disqualify a dog owner from owning another dog, issue dog control or destruction orders and issue fines of up to £1,000, although Scotland has recently passed an Act which will allow fines of up to £40,000 or 12 months imprisonment for such offences.
The outdated Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 will be repealed as currently, police can only seize a dog for the purpose of identifying the owner.
While it is a major concern to note that the Act also includes a section on the banning of live animal exports given that the FUW raised a number of potential dangers of doing so in response to the consultation last year, these moves towards tackling livestock worrying are a welcomed step in the right direction and we will continue to monitor the Act as it progresses through Parliament.