Agenda item

Motion submitted by Councillor Taylor on the Government’s Animal Welfare Strategy.

Councillor Taylor presented a motion concerning the Government’s Animal Welfare Strategy, which was seconded by Councillor Carney.

Members made the following comments:

·       Councillor Count thanked Councillor Taylor for bringing this forward, he is no expert in the field of farming and understands that Councillor Taylor has a great deal of expertise which he listens to. He has read this with some concern, because as a complete lay person, the one thing that jumped out at him was stopping the hunting of rabbits, knowing little about farming but he knows what happens when he drives around the area at night time and what happened in the 60’s with myxomatosis and if there is not something done about rabbits there will be an explosion. Councillor Count expressed the view that he really does not understand where this is being driven from or what is driving it or how the farming community is going to be expected to carry on and what the alternative plans are. He hopes it can be explained that there is a counterpoint but does think that this is another thinly disguised attack on the rural way of life, with the voters for a Labour Government lying in urban areas and that people who represent them generally coming from urban areas. Councillor Count made the point that the Minister for Agriculture is Daniel Ziechner from Cambridge who has had no jobs in agriculture in his life and is a computer IT expert and a career politician. He referred also to the hunting of birds using birds of prey being stopped, which is not a common practice in his experience, but he has seen it used in places such as football stadiums, Wimbledon, etc, and he struggles to think what the alternative is as this has been an effective management tool. Councillor Count stated that this motion raises concerns with the people who may or may not listen and tells them there is something here that is happening that needs to be looked at.

·       Councillor Marks referred to Councillor Taylor making reference to planning and development and questioned that by being on the Planning Committee should he not vote on this? The Monitoring Officer responded that this motion does not have anything to do with planning or the planning system or any decisions that are going to come before Fenland’s Planning Committee, so members of the Planning Committee are able to participate.

·       Councillor Tierney stated that he would never personally choose to take part in any sort of hunting, even simulated, because he is an animal lover but he does not believe his personal choices should dictate other people’s personal choices and he thinks where it is sensible some of these things are appropriate. He expressed the view that the six issues listed in the motion all seem to be reasonably sensible and he agrees with what Councillor Taylor’s motion is saying even though he is an animal lover because he feels that this is what birds of prey do and has uses, rabbits can become real pests and this has to be dealt with somehow, controlling pests is something that has to be undertaken and trail hunting is not real hunting. Councillor Tierney queried pig farrowing as he is not an expert and does not fully understand that, he believes it means that pigs are being kept in a very close environment which does not seem fair to him and he would prefer a kind of free range approach but he does understand it is undertaken differently in the UK and he would welcome some clarity from Councillor Taylor.

·       Councillor Nawaz stated that he welcomes the motive behind it, which is primarily the welfare of animals, however, in his view, it is a question of balancing particularly the countryside and it is the famers themselves who know what the best balance is to be had. He expressed the opinion that animals’ due to various diseases have to be contained and by a sweeping statement the freedom of choice is being restricted which in this case is exercised as a matter of the welfare of the farmers as well as the welfare of those animals. Councillor Nawaz noted that the motion is to be forwarded to, as well as others, Nigel Farage and Rupert Lowe, who seem to have been two names selected out of a range of other political leaders of other political parties and he fears that such political adulteration will only deflect from the real motives of the motion.

·       Councillor Christy stated that he shares some of the concerns raised by Councillors Nawaz and Tierney and did not have time to look at this in too much detail but with all these kinds of debates it is good to have a balanced view and from what he could read in the reform he could not find where it says it is banning the hunting of rabbits and terrier rat packs. He knows there are implications in terms of some of the other reforms that are raised and he shares some of the concerns about is there a right balance of information that is being used to inform this motion. Councillor Christy expressed the view that he is tending towards abstaining from the vote not because he is against animal welfare, but he does not think he has got the information required to make a decision.

·       Councillor Hoy referred to myxomatosis, which was introduced by the Government to kill rabbits and control the population and now it is being complained that myxomatosis is spreading and killing things so feels that members should be careful about what they do as Governments or Councils. She made reference to ‘rabbit roundabout’ in Wisbech, which she has fond memories of and used to make her so happy driving and seeing the rabbits on that roundabout and she was told that a pest controller was employed to dispose of those rabbits. Councillor Hoy stated that it is a difficult decision to make on this motion and she takes on board Councillor Nawaz’s point about Nigel Farage and Rupert Lowe as she is a little bit bored of wanting to hear their opinion on everything as they are not going to save the world.

·       Councillor Booth stated that whilst he tends to agree with the sentiment of what Councillor Taylor is saying, he feels that some of it is scratchy and he cannot see the mention of rabbits or terrier packs in it as Councillor Christy said. He feels the motion does not actually seem to reflect what is in the Government’s strategy so he is concerned that a vote is being taken on things that are not being proposed by the Government and he wants clarification of where this information has come from because reading the document it does not say it is going to ban the hunting of rabbits whereas it does mention some of the other things, although he does agree that rabbits can be a pest and do need to be controlled. Councillor Booth agreed with Councillors Hoy and Nawaz regarding the point about why two members of Parliament have been singled out, acknowledging that they are both leaders of small parties, but to be even handed it should be sent to leaders of all opposition parties to try and get as much support across the political spectrum as possible. Councillor Booth expressed the opinion that there are too many rules being made by Central Government on the rural way of life.

Councillor Booth proposed that an amendment be made that where it says leader of the opposition it refers to leaders of all opposition parties and the names, Nigel Farage MP and Rupert Lowe MP, are removed from the motion, which was seconded by Councillor Patrick.

Members made comments on the amendment as follows:

·       Councillor Miscandlon referred to Councillor Booth recommending it be sent to the leaders of all opposition parties, there are 650 MPs, everyone has an individual opinion, and he thinks it should be sent to all MPs throughout the whole Government so they all understand as they may not agree with this. The Chairman made the point that only one amendment can be made at a time.

·       Councillor Count asked if officers are aware that there is a single drop box for all members of Parliament because if there was a single address for all MPs, rather than producing 650 copies, he would far rather hear a second amendment and go with that. It was indicated that there was not, and Councillor Count stated that he thinks that would be too much work for officers considering the fact that most people probably will not read it and it is only hoped that it gets some of the leaders thinking about this.

·       Councillor Tierney stated that he would support the amendment as long as Councillor Taylor is happy with it as he thinks it makes perfect sense.

·       Councillor Taylor stated he was happy to accept the amendment.

Members agreed the amendment to the motion.

Councillor Carney stated that he has undertaken some background reading and it seems as though the reason why the Government wanted to bring some of this in appears to be a bit of an own goal from when the 2004 Hunting Act came into force as part of those provisions said that rat packs or terrier packs prevent damage to livestock and crops on farms and they are now deciding 21 years later that this should not be happening. He referred to the birds of prey and the British or UK Hawk Board have said can hawks realistically flush out and kill foxes and no they cannot single-handedly. Councillor Carney referred to trail hunting, prior to 2005 it never happened and came about as a result of all these different hunts up and down the country wanting to exercise their dogs or horses and for enjoyment and there is an alternative called drag hunting, which uses non animal scent and the reason why the Government are trying to bring this in is because trail hunting facilitates illegal hunting under a smoke screen of trail hunting. He feels it is subjective because whatever is regulated there is always going to be an undercurrent and not every instance of illegal hunting can be eliminated. Councillor Carney referred to farrowing crates, which is something they have stated that they will not be looking to change immediately overnight and they will be consulting with the pig industry to look at alternative options. He advised that the farrowing crate system is where the sow is kept in a crate for about 5 days and as soon as the piglets are weaned then they are released into more open space and it is just to stop the sow from rolling over and crushing the piglets, however, 50% of the UKs sows, which is information on the Government’s website, are giving birth outdoors and 8% of indoor pig breeders are moving over to a non-crate system so it looks to be an on-going issue but this will probably accelerate it and it seems encouraging that the Government is going to work with the industry rather than just outright ban it.

Councillor Taylor referred to the birds of prey and stated that there is a horrendous amount of birds of prey that are used at airports, which clear the runways before planes can take off, and there are several buildings and councils around the country that use birds of prey to deal with feral pigeons, which will all cease. He made the point that hunting with dogs refers to a wide spectrum, but he does know a lot of things are not listed yet because they cannot keep the website updated. Councillor Taylor reiterated that members should put their personal ideas to one side and listen to the wording of what the motion is about and what is trying to be achieved, asking members to support the motion as all members represent a rural area.

The Motion was approved, with inclusion of the amendment.

(Councillor Patrick left the meeting following this item and for the remainder of the agenda items)