Cats Protection has raised concerns that changes to laws around pet travel falls short for cats.
The proposals which were included in a Government consultation, which closed in October, contained important changes to dog travel – including increasing the minimum age for travel and banning the movement of heavily pregnant dogs – but fails to extend the same protections to cats, says the charity.
It is estimated that 70,000 cats acquired between March 2020 and March 2021 were from an overseas source and is calling on the Government to increase the minimum age that cats can travel into Great Britain from 15 weeks to six months, ban the movement into the UK of pregnant cats in their last 42 days of gestation and ban the importation of cats which have been de-clawed.
Speaking in a parliamentary debate on the topic, initiated by Sheryll Murray MP, the government said that the proposed legislation had not been extended to cats as they represented a much smaller proportion of pet traffic.
Rebecca Pow, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said: “In 2020, cats made up 9% of the total commercial movements of cats, dogs and ferrets to Great Britain, although that was a 2% increase from 2019. Dogs travelling by the same rules made up 91% of the total movements.
“We are not seeing the same issues with young kittens and pregnant cats being imported. In 2020, only 17 kittens under 15 weeks ¬- and zero pregnant cats – were seized and detained.”
Cats Protection’s Head of Advocacy & Government Relations Jacqui Cuff said: “While the Government is looking at changes to improve the welfare of puppies and dogs being brought into the UK, it is not considering the same improvements for cats, which is a huge concern.”
