Heather spoke on Friday in the House of Commons to support of a Private Members Bill aiming to restrict the illegal import of dogs, cats & ferrets put forward by Selaine Saxby MP.
The Bill will introduce specific restrictions around the importation and movement (both commercial and non-commercial) of dogs, cats and ferrets into the country.
It is hoped that the Bill will introduce several restrictions including banning the importation of cats who have been declawed and dogs whose ears have been brutally cropped for aesthetic reasons. These are both painful and wholly unnecessary procedures that are already illegal in the UK - but remain legal in other parts of the world - and can have lifelong implications for the animals.
By closing this loophole and blocking the importation of animals who have already had these procedures carried out, more animals will be protected from this unnecessary suffering, and this cruelty will prevent this abhorrent practice from becoming normalised.
The Bill will also increase the minimum age that puppies and kittens can be imported into the country - to six months - and limit the number of animals that can be imported in a single vehicle. It will also prohibit the importation of dogs and cats in the later stages of pregnancy.
Heather Wheeler OBE MP says: “This bill will significantly disrupt the methods of pet smugglers and their activity. It will help to reassure owners that the puppies or kittens they are buying and allowing into their families have not been sourced illegally, nor treated inhumanely, and that is undoubtedly a good thing and to be celebrated. But what is crucial in this bill is that the suffering of these poor animals is removed and never allowed to be turned into a profit by those who are breaking the law. Many of my constituents have written to me to ask for me to support this bill and this I willingly do.”
