Today I spoke in the Westminster Hall debate on animal welfare during the pandemic. I spoke at length about Tuk's Law and Gizmo's Law and how they will be a great boost for animal welfare in the UK.
The most immediate consequence of the pandemic was a surge in the demand for pets in the UK. The Pet Food Manufacturers’ Association (PFMA) latest Pet Population Data survey revealed 3.2 million households in the UK have acquired a pet since the start of the pandemic. Blue Cross saw demand increase dramatically: In July 2020, for instance, applications to rehome dogs were up 515% on 2019; applications to rehome a dog had a peak of 197 applications per dog in 2020, compared to a peak of 78 per dog in 2019. The online pet marketplace also saw a massive increase in demand with over 7 million people looking online for a new pet on one classified website alone. The demand was not limited to dogs as all pets – cats, small animals such as rabbits and guinea pigs - saw increases.
19% of new owners regret their decision to acquire a dog or cat, mainly because of costs, demands on their time and behaviour of their pet. Such regrets are likely to be high for ‘pandemic pup’ or kitten buyers, 31% of whom had not been considering getting a dog or cat before lockdown. In their eagerness to buy a puppy or kitten, they are very likely to have missed red flags about the decision:
- 42% of ‘pandemic pup’ buyers had not seen the puppy’s breeding environment prior to purchase,
- and 27% had paid before even seeing the puppy, increasing the risk of buying an underage and poorly-bred puppy from unscrupulous breeders, leading to costly and upsetting health and welfare problems in the future.
- 20% said they had not fully considered the long-term implications, such as how they would look after the puppy when they returned to work, and 15% admitted that in hindsight it was a mistake.
The fact that there has been a huge jump in the number of animal owners, and many are coming to regret their decision means that Tuks law is even more important to avoid unnecessary euthanising of animals.
During the current lockdown car usage has fallen to a low of 41% of normal usage on 24th January. Already we are seeing it increase, with the most recent data showing 70% of normal usage on 8th March. As the restrictions are eased this will continue and more cars will be on the road leading to a greater threat to cats. This means that Gizmo’s law is more important than ever to ensure that Local Authorities do scan cats and search the database associated with the microchip to find ownership details to try and reunify the owners with their pet.
