Hansard

I congratulate Christine Grahame on lodging the motion. I feel slightly uneasy following a farmer and four members who have massive experience of pets and other animals, as I have never owned a pet and have no background in relation to animals. Nevertheless, I was struck by two phrases in the motion. The first of those is

“the positive role of pets in the lives of children and adults”.

I have seen that in recent years with my grandchildren. The second phrase is

“the best possible welfare standards”.

I have always been concerned about the prevention of animal suffering, and many constituents have written to me about such matters. I will turn to that issue before I talk briefly about the positive role of pets in the lives of adults and children.

The cabinet secretary will know of my constituents’ concerns, as I have written to him about most of those matters. Just in the past few months, they have approached me about puppy farming, the sale of cats online, snares, the use of wild animals in circuses and the use of closed-circuit television cameras in slaughterhouses. That last issue reminds us that, for most people, animals cannot be seen as equivalent to human beings. I respect those who are vegetarians and who do not want to kill animals in any circumstances; nevertheless, most of us accept that we can eat animals. However, cruelty to animals must always be avoided, and we must always ensure that the best possible welfare standards are enforced.

Within the past few days, I have received a letter from the cabinet secretary about puppy farming. The briefing that we received from OneKind asks for a review of pet vending legislation, which seems to be required. OneKind states:

“without a change in legislation this kind of farming, which contradicts all of the guiding principles of good animal welfare, would perhaps continue as a profitable enterprise at the expense of animals’ lives”.

I hope that that will be taken on board.

Other issues are perhaps trickier for the Government to address. The Government cannot make up its mind about the use of wild animals in circuses, but some of my constituents have made up their minds about that and say that a stop should be put to it. Snaring is also controversial. We are one of the few European countries to allow it and I support my constituents who want an end to it. We should also have 24-hour security cameras in abattoirs—I cannot see any argument against that.

The Government has taken action. As we will recall from last week’s members’ business debate on responsible dog ownership, it is proposed that dogs be microchipped. I imagine that that important animal welfare measure for dogs will go ahead. As that debate reminded us, another issue is animals who behave antisocially. We do not need to repeat the arguments, but we must take action where animals are behaving in that way, just as we do with human beings who are behaving similarly.

I have only one minute left in which to mention the positive role of pets in the lives of children and adults. That issue could have been mentioned in yesterday’s members’ business debate on loneliness because, for that debate, I read fairly extensive research showing that adults living alone without a pet were significantly lonelier than those living with one.

I will close by focusing on the impact of pets on children. That has had a profound effect on my attitude towards animals in general and pets in particular because I have seen how my oldest granddaughter loves, cares for and empathises with cats in general and her own cat in particular. That has made me think about the very positive role that animals play in the lives of children. In the main, I am talking about real animals, but there are also animal toys and one cannot avoid the fact that animals are massively important in children’s literature.

Although it is possible to love animals and not human beings, in general, a positive and caring attitude towards animals will correlate with and encourage a positive and caring attitude towards human beings. That is a very important dimension, but we must always remember that animals are different from human beings and we must respect animals for what they are.