Lucy's Law

Last updated

Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2019
Statutory Instrument
Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (variant 1, 1952-2022).svg
Citation S.I. 2019/2093
Dates
Made8 July 2019
Commencement 6 April 2020
Other legislation
AmendsAnimal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/486)
Made under Animal Welfare Act 2006
Status: Current legislation
Text of statute as originally enacted
Text of the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2019 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

Lucy's Law is a regulation which limits the sale of puppies and kittens as pets in England.

It is named after a spaniel called Lucy who was used for breeding on a puppy farm in South Wales from where she was taken in 2013 by an animal rescue organisation. Lucy had many ailments but was adopted by Lisa Garner who campaigned with vet Marc Abraham to prevent further maltreatment of such dogs. [1]

The Lucy’s Law campaign launched by Lisa Cameron who was the chairperson of the All-Party Parliamentary Dog Advisory Welfare Group (APDAWG). [2]

91 other cross-party MPs supported the campaign alongside the public in a petition which gathered over 100,000 signatures in two weeks,

Named after King Charles spaniel, who died after being rescued from a puppy farm following many years of ill-treatment and forced breeding, the new law will require puppies to be sold directly from dog breeders to budding owners who can view conditions for the pups and their mums.

It is expected it will eradicate puppy sales in pet shops and through third-party dealers like cruel puppy farms.

To address this issue, an amendment to the existing licensing regulations was passed into law in May 2019 by Michael Gove. [3] The instrument was the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2019. [4] The law came into effect in April 2020, with licensed commercial traders no longer allowed to sell kittens or puppies as pets if they were less than six months old and they had not been bred by the seller. [5] [6]

Even though Lucy had been maltreated in Wales, where there were many puppy farms, the regulations only applied to England. This was because animal welfare regulations were devolved to the National Assembly for Wales. [7] [8]

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References

  1. "Ex-Puppy Farm Lucy The Rescue Cavalier Is True Animal Hero", Pets Mag, 8 September 2016
  2. Lambrou, Andrea (31 August 2018). "Lucy's Law: Campaigners hope for legislation change in Scotland". Daily Record. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
  3. Lucy's Law: Puppy farm ban set to be confirmed, BBC, 13 May 2019
  4. "The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2019", UK Statutory Instruments 2019 No. 1093
  5. Sarah Young (6 April 2020), "Lucy's Law", The Independent
  6. Roop Bhinder; Marc Casale; David Rutley (2019), Explanatory Memorandum to the Animal Welfare (licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2019 (PDF), GOV.UK
  7. Lucy's Law: Delay bringing in puppy farms law in Wales criticised, BBC, 24 December 2019
  8. Andrew Penman (19 December 2019), "Welsh Government accused of dragging its feet over Lucy's Law while dogs suffer England will introduce law to stop puppy farmers, so why won't Wales?", Daily Mirror

Further reading