Recent announcements from Rural Affairs Minister for Wales, Elin Jones, indicate that the Welsh Assembly is getting serious about pushing ahead with its groundbreaking Companion Animal Welfare measures.

In 2008 Wales' Companion Animal Welfare Enhancement Scheme, CAWES was given a budget of £3 million to fund Local Authorities run animal welfare and investigative projects. Now, 18 months on, we have two key announcements from the Minister.

At the end of last month Elin Jones reported on the completion of consultation on legislation to ban electronic training devices, (dog collars and electric fencing). In her announcement she said she was minded to tighten up an earlier drafts which made allowances for use of such devices under veterinary supervision or under exceptional circumstances. She noted that there would be considerable difficulty in policing such exceptions and had therefore decided to remove them from the draft.

She said that it will take about 3 months for the change to the legislation to get through the European Commission, (EC), after which she will proceed with the legislation in the Assembly.

Then, last week at a conference entitled "Delivering Pet welfare in Wales", in Cardiff, Elin Jones said it was time to take on puppy farmers.

She said:

"The information gathered through CAWES so far has persuaded me of the need to take action to tackle bad practice in the dog breeding industry."

Adding:

"I will be establishing a task and finish group to review existing guidance on the licensing of dog breeding establishments, and look at whether existing legislation should be amended."

"In order to improve traceability of dogs, I will be encouraging voluntary microchipping while we consider the need to make microchipping compulsory."

Both announcements represent a toughened stance from the devolved Government which is now leading the UK in the development of new approaches to Companion Animal Welfare.

Submitted by: Steve O'Malley      

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