The Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 (Amendment) Bill 2024 - 2026

 This is a Private Members Bill sponsored by Sir Christopher Chope MP (Conversative)

The official title text is as follows:

A Bill to provide that, before making any order to designate a type of dog for the purposes of section 1 or 2 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, the Secretary of State must carry out a public consultation and publish a comparative review of data showing the incidences of fatalities resulting from bites of dogs of that type in the last three years.

The 1^st reading in the House of Commons took place on the 21^st October 2024 and the second reading is set for the 27^th March 2026.

The Bill is asking that in future before making any order to designate a type of dog for the purposes of  section 1 or 2 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 (before ‘banning’ another breed or type of dog - breed specific legislation) the Secretary of State must carry out a public consultation and publish a comparative review of data showing the incidences of fatalities resulting from bites of dogs of that type in the last three years.

Progress of the Bill can be followed online here - https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3854

The Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) Bill

The Bill has moved through the House of Commons and is due a second reading in the House of Lords on 5^th September 2025

Full details of the Bill can be found here - https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3821

Explanatory Notes have been provided by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA):

The Bill addresses the serious issue of livestock worrying in England and Wales.

The Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 deals with dogs that chase or attack livestock in England, Wales, and Scotland (known as livestock worrying).

The Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) Bill includes provisions to deliver a number of amendments to the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 ("the 1953 Act") to improve enforcement in response to incidents of livestock worrying by dogs. 

The Bill does so by extending the powers available to the police to obtain evidence of an offence under section 1 of the 1953 Act. 

The Bill extends the offence in section 1 of the 1953 Act to include roads and paths and expands the scope of livestock currently afforded protection to include camelids. 

It also increases the maximum penalty in relation to the offence in section 1 of the 1953 Act from a fine of £1,000 to an unlimited fine.

YouGov UK Poll published

 

Recent Poll results published:

The YouGov Survey Results Sample Size: 2243 Adults in GB 

Fieldwork: 28th - 29th April 2025 - the full results are online here -https://yougov.co.uk/society/articles/52664-most-britons-are-in-favour-of-dog-licences

85% of Britons think there should be some form of dog licence, with 54% believing it should be a requirement for owning any breed.

54% believe you should require a licence to own a dog of any breed as a pet, alongside a further 31% who believe that you should require a licence to own dogs belonging to certain breeds as a pet.

8% of the public think you should not require a licence to own a dog of any breed as a pet.

Among dog owners, 45% thought there should be a blanket dog licence, with 38% supporting one for certain breeds.

Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats & Ferrets) Bill progresses

The Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill has now passed its 3rd reading in the House of Commons on the 4th July and been passed up to the House of Lords where the first reading has taken place - a formality which signals the beginning of the Bill through the Lords.

The second reading of the Bill is due to take place on 5th September, this is a general debate on all parts of the Bill.

A copy of the Bill, as amended, can be found here: https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3790/publications

The Bill aims to help end puppy smuggling, to ban imports of animals with mutilations and to reduce the risk of some diseases being imported.

#PuppySmugglingBill #flopdontcrop

Overview of the Bill:

The Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill makes provision to restrict the commercial importation and non-commercial movement of dogs, cats and ferrets into the United Kingdom from third countries on grounds of animal welfare. 

The Bill introduces an enabling power to address the problem of low-welfare imports of dogs, cats and ferrets into the United Kingdom. 

The power must be used to prohibit the bringing into Great Britain of puppies and kittens under six months and dogs and cats that are mutilated or heavily pregnant. 

The Bill also seeks to address the current issue of commercial imports being disguised as non commercial movements by amending the rules that govern the non-commercial movement of dogs, cats and ferrets into Great Britain from third countries.  

Animal Shelters (Licensing) Bill Introduced:

 

This is a Private Members' Bill A Bill to make provision for the licensing of animal shelters; the First reading was on the 11^th June 2025.

The Bill is sponsored by conservative MP Richard Holden and the Second Reading is due to take place on the 4^th July

The new law would require animal shelters in England and Wales to obtain licences.

Progress can be followed online here - https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3985

Government responds to Petition

As 10,000 signatures were reached - the Government has responded to the petition, as below.

If 100,000 signatures are reached - then a parliamentary debate will be considered - Sign Here - “Introduce Licensing and Regulation for Dog and Cat Rescues to Protect Welfare” https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/718660

The Petitions Committee (the group of MPs who oversee the petitions system) has considered the Government’s response to this petition. They felt the response did not respond directly to the request of the petition. They have therefore asked the Government to provide a revised response. When the Committee receives a revised response from the Government, it will be published.

Government response:
Animal rescue organisations must meet existing statutory welfare requirements. Moving forward, we are developing an overarching approach to animal welfare and will outline more detail in due course.
The Government appreciates the important work that responsible animal sanctuaries as well as rescue and rehoming organisations do, often on a voluntary basis, to ensure that animals taken into the care of these organisations are offered the opportunity of a forever home.
There are existing protections under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 whereby any person responsible for an animal, whether on a permanent or temporary basis, has a duty to ensure the welfare of the animals in their care. Companion animal rescue and rehoming organisations in England and Wales must therefore comply with statutory welfare requirements set out in the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
The Department encourages individuals to report any concerns regarding whether these standards are being met to the relevant local authority, which has powers to investigate.
Members of the public can also check if the rescue centre they use is a member of the Association of Dogs and Cats Homes, which has set clear standards for animal assessments, neutering and rehoming procedures that all members adhere to.
More broadly, the Department is developing an overarching approach to animal welfare and has initiated a series of meetings with key animal welfare stakeholders as part of this work. It will be outlining more detail of plans in due course.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill Update

 This Bill was debated in Parliament on Wednesday 14 May 2025

A copy of the Bill, as amended, can be found here: https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3790/publications

The Bill aims to help end puppy smuggling, to ban imports of animals with mutilations and to reduce the risk of some diseases being imported.

#PuppySmugglingBill #flopdontcrop

You can ask your MP to support the Imports Bill – please contact them today. MP’s will vote for the Bill on the 4^th July, ask yours to support.

Government background explanatory notes:

The Bill aims to address growing concerns about the low welfare movement of dogs and cats into the United Kingdom.

Dogs, cats and ferrets can enter the United Kingdom in one of two ways: as non-commercial pet travel movements or commercial imports.  More stringent requirements apply to commercial imports than to non-commercial movements. Evidence has shown that commercial movements are frequently being disguised as non-commercial movements to  avoid these more stringent requirements. 

In 2023, over 500 landings of dogs and cats were intercepted at the Port of Dover and found to be non-compliant with import requirements. Of these, 116 puppies and kittens were quarantined for being below the legally required minimum age for import. This data does not include animals detained at airports or found inland.  The true extent of puppy smuggling operations is unknown and so these figures likely only capture a small portion of the animals smuggled into the country.

There are concerns about an emerging market involving the importation of heavily pregnant dogs and cats, and those which have been mutilated (ear cropped dogs, tail docked dogs and declawed cats).  

Defra have regularly been called upon to change the legislation and inhibit the trade for low welfare movements of dogs and cats, most recently by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (EFRA) following its inquiry into pet welfare in abuse.  This looked at the scale and profitability of the illegal trade and the conditions in which dogs are being imported into the United Kingdom. The recommendations from that inquiry included the introduction of a limit on the number of dogs, cats and ferrets that can be brought into the UK as a non-commercial movement from five per person to five per vehicle, and three per foot or air passenger; as well as a ban on the movement of puppies and kittens under six months and pregnant dogs and cats in the last 30% of gestation. EFRA Committee also recommended that the Government should give priority to closing loopholes that enable the importation of mutilated animals. There is strong public support for intervention in the sector and concerns on the practice of “puppy smuggling” and low-welfare imports have been raised by third sector organisations and animal welfare groups.

These Explanatory Notes relate to the Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill.