Pet Animals Act 1951 (Amendment) (Hansard, 21 November 2000)

§ Mr. David Amess (Southend, West)

I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to amend section 3 of the Pet Animals Act 1951 to raise the minimum age of a child to whom a pet animal may be sold. I make no apology for returning to a subject that I raised in the House first in 1991 and again in 1993. I feel frustrated that, although on those two occasions the House listened to me courteously and seemed to agree with the merits of my argument—perhaps on this occasion, it will not —in nearly 10 years nothing has happened.

The timing of my Bill is appropriate. I am reliably informed that Christmas still falls on 25 December—unless that is something else that has been modernised—and at Christmas, purchasing animals, particularly small animals, undoubtedly has a great attraction for the general public. The general public might not be particularly attracted to small Members of Parliament, but they are undoubtedly attracted to the idea of owning kittens, puppies and suchlike. Yet after Christmas, our newspapers are littered with stories of people's cruelty to such animals.

The Amess household owns a great variety of pets. We have a black labrador, which is described as being wayward. Thinking about that, I realise that that dog is not the only thing in the Amess household that can be so described. We also have rabbits, hamsters, fish, canaries and finches, and the garden seems to be full of foxes. I can testify from first-hand experience that encouraging children to look after the animals is not always successful. Invariably, it is down to mum and dad to look after them.

The Act is now 50 years old, and my Bill has the support of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Pet Care Trust, the Kennel Club, the National Canine Defence League and many Members of Parliament. The Local Government Association's booklet on the Pet Animals Act 1951 makes recommendations with regard to the sale of pets. However, those are only recommendations, and they are open to flexible interpretation.

Many local authorities tackle the issue of age seriously when issuing licences, and follow the Local Government Association's recommendations. But I have one example of a local authority—I will not name it, because I am not sure about its political control—which recommends 12 as a suitable age for the purchase of an animal from a pet shop. The Bill would make the association's recommendations mandatory, tightening up yet another loophole in the outdated legislation.

It is difficult to find specific examples because, owing to the age of the child concerned, one cannot determine who is responsible for abusing the pets, and often parents are held responsible. But more often than not the animals are simply abandoned, and it is impossible to know who made the original purchase.

During the past year, 100,000 animals were abandoned—a huge number. For the RSPCA, the main problem seems to be that children can afford to purchase small animals such as hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs and rabbits, which they find so attractive, with their pocket money. Unfortunately, in no time at all, the novelty of owning such small animals wears off, particularly with 178 the poor hamsters, which are active only at night and are not very keen to be woken up during the day when children want to play with them. Such animals are often bought with no knowledge about how to look after them, or even of what sex they are, and if one animal turns out to be pregnant, in no time at all there are five or six more.

As Christmas approaches, the RSPCA will campaign vigorously to try to stop people from buying pets as presents. Every year it has to deal with abandoned animals that have been given as pets, usually to children who quickly tire of them.

In the early 1990s, problems arose from the teenage craze of buying turtles. I think that they were called teenage mutant ninja turtles, but whatever their name, the craze made people keen to buy turtles without any knowledge of how to look after them. Similarly, after the revival of the film "101 Dalmatians", everyone went out and bought dalmatians. Anybody who knows anything about dalmatians realises that although they look cute with their black and brown spots, they are very lively. Again, people can be unaware of the responsibilities involved in owning them. I dare say that all the dinosaur films currently being shown mean that iguanas will be the next animal to be purchased. [Interruption.] Not on the Conservative Benches. With all the adverse publicity about sharks, no doubt people will soon be keeping baby sharks in tanks.

The RSPCA has recently campaigned for tighter controls on the trade in, and ownership of, exotic species. In the past year, 3,700 exotic animals were abandoned. It is crazy how irresponsible some people can be, so I should like to give a few examples. A man who paid £20 in an Essex pub for what he thought was an exotic lizard ran into trouble when the creature turned out to be a spectacled caiman, which is a type of crocodile. The caiman, which was about 18 inches long and had large green eyes and razor-sharp teeth, was underweight when it was rescued by the Cambridgeshire RSPCA. Her skin was in poor condition, and several of her toes and the tip of her tail were missing.

In Caerphilly, Mid Glamorgan, six-week-old puppy Ellie was discovered cowering by the side of the road after an eye-witness report was received stating that she had been hurled from a moving car. The incident occurred shortly after Christmas, and it was believed that the animal had been bought as a pet. I am informed that two chinchillas were dumped last Christmas on a doorstep in Barnstaple, North Devon, after sparking a major row between a boyfriend and girlfriend. The girlfriend had been promised something furry for Christmas and was expecting a fluffy coat. She was enraged when her boyfriend produced two chinchillas in a cage, and immediately said that she did not want them. Yet again, the RSPCA had to rescue the animals.

It is right to judge how civilised a society is by its treatment of animals. I know that hon. Members understand only too well the procedure behind ten-minute Bills, and will be thinking, "Hang on, Parliament is finishing next week, so how's Amess going to get this on to the statute book?" I am, however, very determined. The measure that I promoted some years ago to stop horses, ponies and donkeys being cruelly tethered and abandoned became law through a ten-minute Bill.

All I ask is that the House reflect on cruelty to animals and consider supporting the Bill. Bearing in mind the fact that the next Session may be short, I hope that when the 179 ballot for private Members' Bills occurs shortly, at least one Member will consider supporting my Bill—or, indeed, that Her Majesty's Government will consider taking it on board. I hope that this Christmas will be a happy one for animals. Hon. Members can ensure that it is by supporting the Bill, which would increase from 12 to 16 the age at which a child who is unaccompanied by an adult can purchase an animal.