I understand how important Animal Welfare is to so many and as an animal lover myself, I share your concerns. I come from a farming family and grew up in a house full of animals from our family dogs to lambs, goats, hens, ducks and even a rescued hare.
I would like to see an end to the farming of caged hens and more free-range meats available in our supermarkets, from responsibly farmed sources. Britain has some of the strongest animal welfare legislation in the world and to toughen our already high standards, it should be mandatory to have CCTV recording in all slaughterhouses, so that infringements can be swiftly and robustly acted upon by police. With country of origin labelling on food, we would be able to trust in the high animal welfare standards that come with buying British and supporting local farmers.
I fully support the introduction of legislation banning the sale of all domestic ivory in the UK in line with CITES recommendations. The UK should be the example to the rest of the world and encourage other countries to follow our lead. The survival of the worlds elephant and rhino population must be ensured and protected through concrete action.
Battersea Cats and Dogs Home along with the IFAW's have called for tougher sentencing for animal cruelty and for participation in the illegal wildlife trade, I think it is incredibly important that such horrendous crimes are met with the appropriate custodial sentence.
The National Wildlife Crime Unit was recently given a further £1.2 million funding by the Conservative Government, which is only right as they perform a great job policing our borders and countryside.
Our Police animals support our emergency services every day and serve with officers on the front line, for this reason there needs to be better protection for these dedicated animals and assaults against them treated as seriously as an assault on a serving police officer.
I support the implementation of tougher dog breeding licensing rules to better protect thousands of puppies and to make it completely illegal to sell puppies younger than eight weeks old. This needs to be combined with an increase in policing of the illegal importing of puppies from cruel puppy farms across Europe.