Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Cabinet Secretary, can I welcome the statement? I think the principle of responsible ownership that is mentioned towards the end of your statement is key, but I do think that more needs to be done with it. Several Members, including Gareth Bennett, have mentioned the need for education, and it is, after all, pet owners who are going to be able to deliver the maximum level of animal welfare. No matter how good our laws and regulations are, it is human behaviour here that is key.

I have to say, a couple of months ago, I visited Cardiff Dogs Home, and can I take this opportunity to commend their excellent work—it's a remarkably hopeful place, which is perhaps not what I was expecting—and also the friends of Cardiff Dogs Home as well, who exercise the animals twice daily, and, indeed, that's what I did do as part of my visit? But, anyway, the staff and volunteers there were talking to me about the problems they often have with dogs being abandoned, because they were acquired in the first place, irresponsibly, as fashion accessories—this sounds remarkable, but I assure you it goes on—and then, after six months or so, the novelty of having this fashion accessory, which you're showing off to your friends or whatever, wears and the realities of taking care of a sentient animal with a range of quite obvious needs means that they grow indifferent or even callous and the animals often get abandoned, and literally get abandoned—driven many miles and then thrown out of a car. So, that's the first point.

The second point, and, again, a couple of people have mentioned this, but I want to refer you to the work of the charity Cats Protection, which has highlighted the problem of pets being given up when people move into rented accommodation. They also mention that when people go into some form of care accommodation, it's often automatically the case that they have to give up their pets—in this case, cats—and these animals are often older animals that cannot be rehoused very easily. I think landlords and those running various forms of care accommodation, sheltered or whatever—residential homes—many of them can be quite easily made appropriate for companion animals. I think those in rented accommodation—indeed, I live in a condominium, and we have a presumption that you can have a pet unless there are very strong reasons not to have the pet, and that is a much better way of operating. It would be fairer, as well, which would cover people in some form of rented accommodation as well. I think that's a real issue, and I commend the charity for raising that matter.