Puppy farm and trail hunt ban promised in animal welfare strategy

An end to puppy farming and a possible ban on the use of electric shock dog collars are promised as part of a new animal welfare strategy being launched by the government on Monday.

The strategy – which packages together new laws with legislative reforms and proposals – will also progress Labour’s manifesto pledge to ban trail hunting in the countryside.

The RSPCA has welcomed the plans to outlaw puppy farming but the Countryside Alliance has condemned the ban on trail hunting as “another attack on the countryside”.

Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds told the BBC there would be consultation on the trail-hunting ban, which was “sometimes used as a smokescreen” for illegal fox hunting.

Puppy farming is the term used when breeders prioritise profit over animal health and welfare, often keeping large numbers of dogs in small pens and using them to produce multiple litters a year.

Current dog breeding practices will be reformed to tackle puppy farming as part of what the government calls “the biggest animal welfare reforms in a generation”.

However, the whole strategy will not be delivered until the end of 2030.

David Bowles, head of public affairs at the RSPCA, said the animal welfare charity was “delighted” at the strategy and added that the plans to ban puppy farming “could be a real game-changer”.

“Puppy farming is one of the most insidious problems that the RSPCA faces.

“The government will need to write the legislation on that in this coming year and the RSPCA will work with them to make sure that there are no loopholes,” he said.

The government is also looking to ban the use of snare traps in the countryside and on Sunday confirmed it is to carry out a consultation on the proposed ban on trail hunting in the New Year.

Trail hunting involves using a rag with a natural scent on to lay a trail ahead of a hunt, which is then followed by the hounds but live animal scents could be picked up by the pack instead.

The secretary of state told the BBC that while Labour had previously banned fox hunting in 2004 “we have seen that people are trying to get around that ban by using trail hunting in some cases”.

“Obviously that’s also a problem of enforcement, it’s not just the legislation, but we are determined to go further, which is why banning trail hunting is in the animal welfare strategy,” she said.

“We know sometimes it is used as a smokescreen for fox hunting.”

But Tim Bonner, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, said it was “unbelievable” that the government would be spending more parliamentary time on hunting.

He said: “Revisiting this pointless and divisive issue is completely unnecessary.

“People across the countryside will be shocked that after Labour’s attack on family farms and its neglect of rural communities it thinks banning trail hunting and snares used for fox control are a political priority.”

Conservative chairman Kevin Hollinrake called the ban an “attack on rural Britain and British culture”, accusing the government of “punishing the law-abiding majority who support legal trail hunting”.

The government is also looking at ending the use of “confinement systems” in farming including caged hens and pig farrowing crates, which are used to contain sows during birth and nursing.

The use of slow-growing chickens will be promoted over the use of controversial so-called “Frankenchickens”, a term used by animal welfare campaigners to describe fast-growing breeds.

Anthony Field, head of Compassion in World Farming UK, said the government was “raising the bar for farmed animal welfare”.

The National Pig Association said it would be “following the next steps closely” on farrowing crates and was itself looking towards more flexible systems.

The British Poultry Council have been approached by the BBC for comment.