To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what controls are in place to ensure that wild animals imported into the UK under scientific licences are only used for scientific purposes and not sold as pets or used for other purposes.

The issue of the release of protected animals from the controls of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 is set out in section 17a of the Act.

A protected animal must not be released unless the Secretary of State has consented and is satisfied:

That the animal's state of health allows it to be set free or re-homed; that the setting free or re-homing of the animal poses no danger to public health, animal health or the environment; that there is an adequate scheme in place for ensuring the socialisation of the animal upon being set free or re-homed; and that other appropriate measures have been taken to safeguard the animal's wellbeing upon being set free or re-homed.

The Secretary of State must not consent to the setting free of a relevant protected animal which has been taken from the wild unless the Secretary of State is also satisfied that the animal has undergone a programme of rehabilitation or that it would be inappropriate for the animal to be required to undergo such a programme.