Diolch. Before I begin today, I’d like to pay a particular tribute to the three tireless campaigners whose passion and commitment have driven this issue I’m going to speak about here today, and who at the very least deserve a full and fair hearing for this forward-thinking proposal. The first is my constituent Jenna Satterley, who took a recent tragedy, a burglary at the Ty-Nant sanctuary in Cymmer in my region in July, when three cats were horribly mutilated and killed, and used it to give this positive idea fresh impetus. The other two are Maxine and Brian Berry of the Justice for Chunky campaign. Like Rocky’s law, it was an act of horrific cruelty against a dog for this couple to begin their campaign to introduce animal abuse registers in the UK. Sadly, I don’t think I have enough time to go into their meticulous work that lays out the legislative landscape, but I’m sure they would be happy for me to share what we’ve done and what they’ve done with the Welsh Government.

This is a debate that I wish we weren’t having here today. We know that in an ideal society, there would be no such thing as animal cruelty. And for the overwhelming majority of us, an act of senseless spite against an animal is something that revolts us, and is something that we simply cannot comprehend, but it does exist. Only this month, a kitten not more than a few weeks old was beaten to death with a rolling pin and thrown in a food disposal unit by kitchen staff at a hotel in Betws-y-Coed. It took an outcry on social media and, presumably, a threat to business for the management to apologise and sack those responsible. Meanwhile, dogs remain the most abused animals in Wales. In July, the RSPCA had to put down a German Shepherd named Sindy after she was left tied to a railing in Flintshire with injuries to her legs and a note saying, ‘My owner cannot cope.’

So, regardless of how most of us feel about such incidents, it’s savagery and its regularity behoves us to find ways to eradicate animal abuse, for that should be our aim—the total eradication of animal cruelty.

What I’m proposing today is within competence. It has also been established and tested elsewhere, although it would be a first for the UK, and it has potential benefits outside of animal welfare and outside of what this Assembly does. At the end of the day, if we are able to support law enforcement, then we should, even if we don’t have the powers. That isn’t a reason to refuse this proposal.

In proposing an animal abuse register for Wales it is, as I said, not necessary to reinvent the wheel. We already have working models in the United States. While this isn’t a Welsh solution, because it sits in a different legal framework, it provides the basis for building a register while exploring the necessary changes to legislation—if legislation is required—and identifies potential issues.

So, as I said, at present there is no animal abuse register in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The issue of establishing an animal register in England has recently been examined by a Westminster committee as part of an inquiry into animal welfare of domestic pets. This inquiry recommended the UK Government examine the potential for the establishment of an animal abuse register. This follows on form a 2012 Assembly petition that called for a Welsh animal offenders register. The Petitions Committee explored a number of issues and felt at the time that it would not be practical. However, events have moved on sufficiently for this idea to be revisited. We have them established elsewhere and we can see that they work.