3. Statement by the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs: The Wild Animals and Circuses (Wales) Bill

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:13 pm on 9 July 2019.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Vikki Howells Vikki Howells Labour 3:13, 9 July 2019

Thank you, Minister, for your statement. I'd like to warmly welcome your statement, and I know that very many of my constituents will too. My first question is regarding the extra requirements on local authority inspectors. I accept your very valid point that breaches will be easy to detect, but what discussions have you had around the capacity of local authority inspectorates, and is there any training or support that Welsh Government could provide? For example, I've discussed with one animal welfare charity the creation of a centralised animal welfare inspectorate. So, I'd be interested to hear your views around that and whether you think that it could be helpful.

I'd also like to discuss some novel alternatives as well. For example, there's been a lot of focus on social media lately around Circus Roncalli, which is a German circus using holograms of wild animals as part of their show. This allows them to replicate traditional circus acts, but also more fantastic scenarios, and to do so at a fraction of the cost involved in transporting live animals. Now, to my knowledge, this has not been brought to the UK yet, so would you welcome the use of such technology, which is entirely cruelty free, here in Wales?

And finally, it seems to me that the publicity around the introduction of this law could provide us with a good opportunity for Welsh Government to promote the many excellent animal-based tourist attractions here in Wales, such as Folly Farm to mention just one, where people can observe animals in a natural-style habitat in the context of conservation work. So, I'd be interested to know what discussions you might have had or might consider having with your colleagues in Government around that, and of course that could provide an economic boost to Wales, particularly as the summer school holidays approach.