What action is the Welsh Government taking to work with the UK Government to ensure that visual checks at the UK border are introduced as part of the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill?
All non-commercial dogs entering Great Britain on approved routes (every route other than ROI, NI and the Crown Dependencies) under the Pet Travel rules undergo full documentary and identity checks by authorised pet checkers.
Authorised pet checkers are trained by the Animal and Plant Health Agency and benefit from regular refresher training, to undertake these checks and identify and report potential non-compliances.
Commercial imports are subject to physical checks which include detailed examinations and sampling as required. We are not proposing to introduce mandatory physical checks for pets, as identity checks include visual checks to ensure the animals match the documentation.
Further training for authorised pet checkers will be provided with respect to the introduction of any new restrictions brought in by the Kept Animals Bill in order to identify potential non-compliances. Currently these changes are to:
a) Increase the minimum age of imported and non-commercial dogs from 15 weeks to 6 months
b) Ban the importation and non-commercial movement of dogs with non-exempted mutilations
c) Reduce the number of animals that can travel under the non-commercial pet travel rules; and
d) Prohibit the importation and non-commercial movement of a bitch (dog) who is more than 42 days pregnant.
The changes being introduced by the Kept Animals Bill have been developed in conjunction with the other Devolved Governments and will be consistently applied to all borders to ensure a harmonised biosecurity regime that protects imports of dogs.