Clause 6 - Administration of poisons etc.
Animal Welfare Bill
6:00 pm
Bill Wiggin (Shadow Minister (Agriculture & Fisheries), Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; Leominster, Conservative)
I hope that the amendment is superfluous. Under the Bill, a person commits an offence if he administers poison
''knowing it to be poisonous''.
The amendment would guarantee that people were not prosecuted for accidental poisonings. The point is not made clear in the clause, and subsection (1)(b) seemingly assigns guilt to the responsible person under all circumstances. That might well serve to deter someone whose animal had been accidentally poisoned from taking it to the vet to get it treated, because they feared being reported and prosecuted.
Although clause 27 makes provision for lawful excuse, including a provision regarding accidents would make it legally explicit that accidental poisoning was a lawful excuse for a defendant to use. In addition, it would give the prosecutors some guidance on what they had to prove—that the poisoning was not accidental—to secure a conviction under the clause. I therefore hope that the amendment would clarify the law on animal poisoning.