Clause 20 - Entry and search under warrant in connection with offences
Animal Welfare Bill
12:30 pm
Philip Hollobone (Kettering, Conservative)
I agree with the hon. Lady that we need to separate pet fairs and pet sales. I have received a letter from Mr. Page, a constituent, who is president of the Corby and District Aquarist Society. I shall share his words of wisdom with the Committee. He wrote:
“Many fishkeepers enjoy exhibiting their fishes at Open Shows held around the country throughout the year. Should these Shows require a Licence to operate then this will make most of these events non-viable to those Societies organising them. The crux of the matter seems to be the classification of such events under the blanket description of Pet Fairs rather than as Pet Shows. At fish Open Shows there is minimal trading ... There is no comparison between a simple one-day Aquatic Society event and large, trade-driven Animal Fairs. The eventual closure of such events through financial strictures would lead to the collapse of the organised aquarium hobby, which does much good, especially in conservancy matters. Several species of fish, now extinct in the wild, continue to exist and thrive in captivity and there is much evidence that captive breeding lessens the need to take fishes from the wild. Many of the most popular freshwater fishes are now captive bred by the aquatic trade and this also an area of increasing possibilities for the captive breeding of marine fishes.”
I have also received some interesting correspondence from Mr. John Catchpole, the director and publisher of Parrots Magazine—which I am sure the Minister reads quite often. Mr. Catchpole writes:
“We need to understand that there are two distinct groups of people who sell birds at pet fairs.”
The first is the dedicated aviculturist. Mr. Catchpole says that they are
“individuals who have a passion for birds and who consider the welfare of their birds to be of prime importance. They do sometimes sell their birds but this monetary factor is way down their list of priorities and birds are usually only subjected to one short journey.”
The second group comprises the traders, who he says are
“individuals whose prime objective is to make money. The welfare of the birds tends to be of little importance. They hawk their ‘stock’ around the UK at pet fairs with little regard for the welfare of the birds. Birds may be diseased, injured or in poor condition and are often subjected to a string of long journeys.”
The letter continues:
“It is this second group of traders that has created the animosity between genuine birdkeepers and animal welfare groups.”
He then writes:
“I ask you to understand this difference between the genuine birdkeeper and the unscrupulous trader ... The genuine birdkeepers should be allowed to display, exhibit and sell their birds without problem, as they are only interested in the hobby and do not have financial aspirations. It is the clubs and associations which do not organise their shows on a commercial basis that add value to the hobby and should be protected.”