Wide range of animal welfare measures approved by deputies

Laws will now be drawn up to ensure that the premises of veterinary practices are registered, along with veterinary nurses, and that visiting vets will have to notify Environment & Infrastructure in advance of their arrival.

The farming of animals for fur, feathers or hides will also be banned, although farming for sheep, llama and alpaca wool will continue to be permitted.

Using wild animals in circuses, force-feeding geese to produce foie gras, and the use of various traps will also be banned.

Presenting the proposals, E&I president Lindsay de Sausmarez stressed the importance of Guernsey aligning with international expectations and pointed out that a failure to uphold globally-agreed standards would act as a barrier to trade, as the island had signed up to trade agreements that stipulated adherence to animal welfare rules.

Some animal traps, such as snares, were neither listed as permitted nor as being banned, she said, and she reported that earlier this year, a domestic cat had returned home with a homemade snare around its neck.

She thanked several organisations for their input and support, including the GSPCA, RSPB, La Societe Guernesiaise, veterinary practices and the former Animal Aid.

Several deputies expressed concern about the proposed ban on the use of ‘artificial lighting or illuminating devices for the capture, control, slaughter, killing or taking of animals’.

Deputy Marc Leadbeater said he had gone red-lamping and ferreting ever since he was a boy, and had therefore been able to catch, kill, gut and skin rabbits to sell for extra pocket money.

He was worried that the new laws would ban such traditional practices.

‘I really think that this is taking something away from the childhood and the upbringing that people like me had,’ he said.

Deputy Sam Haskins wanted to know whether the legislation would specifically exempt fish from the lighting rules. There was such an exemption in the current legislation he noted, but these proposals were to bring in new laws, rather than build upon the existing ones.

He also speculated whether some of the proposals were motivated by a desire to prevent a mooted black-fly farm from being established.

Deputy Mark Helyar revealed himself to be a qualified pest controller and said the proposed laws would add to the already onerous bureaucracy faced by people in that line of work.

He also requested that escaped ferrets and ravens be added to the vermin list – the latter because they were a pest to sheep farmers at lambing season.

As a former restaurateur, Deputy Simon Vermeulen wanted clarification about whether the foie gras production ban would lead to a ban on importation of the product.

Deputy de Sausmarez said that local vet practices were currently unable to order in certain medicines because in the absence of a local register, they were unable to demonstrate their credentials. The practices themselves therefore supported the changes, rather than fearing additional bureaucracy.

She pointed out that flies would not be protected and that the only measure relating to them would be to ban the outdoor use of sticky fly traps, as they posed a danger to small birds and certain bat species.

She was also able to reassure Deputy Vermeulen that there would be no restriction on the import of foie gras.

All propositions were approved unamended.