British pets lobby for a Bill of Rights

by Shelly Emling (London)
National Post
February 25, 2006

In Britain, pet owners often take Fido or Fifi everywhere they go – even pubs and post offices. No doubt about it, Britons love their animals. And now the government is going to make sure of it.

A proposed animal-welfare bill before the Parliament includes detailed codes of conduct, tailored to cats and dogs, telling owners exactly what’s expected of them.

Cat owners would have to take heed of their feline’s preference for privacy by placing the litter box out of view.

Cats should also be intellectually stimulated by being provided with balls and other toys such as fishing rods that stimulate “catching behaviours,” the legislation states.

Cats sometimes need to escape children or other animals in the house. Thus, owners would be expected to provide places, such as a high ledge or a cardboard box, to which the cat can retreat.

There is also a protocol for the meeting of dog and cat. “Dogs should be introduced to cats very carefully. The dog should be on a lead at first so that it cannot chase the cat.”

The bill would raise the age at which children can buy animals from 12 to 16, which means that, technically, pets such as goldfish could no longer be won as prizes by anyone under the age of 16.

If owners run afoul of the law they would face up to 51 weeks in jail or a fine of up to £5,000 ($10,000), following a visit from the pet police.

British newspapers have poked fun at the bill for being intrusive and overly instructive. In a cartoon published in The Times, a couple looks on as their dog completes a Sudoku puzzle. The wife asks: “Don’t you think he’s had enough mental stimulation this morning?”

Columnist Vanessa Feltz, writing in The Express, said the bill “shows a ‘nanny’ state at her most interfering and least logical.”

But Margaret Beckett, the environment secretary, has praised the bill as the most extensive reform of animal-welfare regulation in nearly a century.

Expected to win parliamentary approval by summer, it is essentially a Bill of Rights for pets. They include the freedoms to enjoy a suitable diet; a suitable environment; companionship or solitude as appropriate; the ability to express a normal behaviour; and a life free from pain, injury, disease and suffering.

“For the first time, there will be powers to act before a pet suffers – a radical change, as now it can take up to 25 visits by inspectors before enough evidence is gathered to prove animal cruelty,” Beckett said.

Doug Kempster, a spokesman for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said the measure is filled with common-sense information and that regulations won’t have a major impact on responsible pet owners.

Some activists argue that the bill doesn’t go far enough. Andrew Tyler, director of animal rights group Animal Aid, said the measure should ban the use of animals in circuses and stop Britons from mass-breeding animals for hunting. He said that some 35 million pheasants and partidges are produced each year in Britain to be released for the enjoyment of hunters. “There’s a ban in Holland on producing birds to be shot and we want a similar one, even though it seems clear we aren’t going to get it,” he said.

Cox News Service