One Month For Pet Owners To Bone Up

It's time for pet owners to start boning up on animal welfare. From Tuesday 6 April new codes come into force which support the Animal Welfare Act 2006, and set out the legal duties of many pet owners. Following their introduction, the new codes will be used in courts as evidence relating to poor animal welfare.

Animal Welfare Minister Jim Fitzpatrick unveiled the new codes on a visit to a Dogs Trust re-homing centre last Christmas. He said:

"We're a nation of animal lovers, but sadly too many people still don't know how to look after their pets properly and get things wrong. It's the animals who suffer as a result.

Booklets containing the new codes are available from the Defra website as .pdf files:

Welfare of Dogs

Welfare of Cats

Welfare of Horses, Ponies, Donkeys and their Hybrids

Welfare of Privately Kept Non-Human Primates