Dog Fighting, Puppy Farms and Backbones
Back in 2007, Today MLAs have been debating some changes to the law in response to the widespread concern about such cruelty to animals. The Agriculture Minister Michelle Gildernew says her bill will create a series of new offences connected with animal fighting and the maximum sentence for animal fighting will rise from 3 months to 2 years. MLAs raised concerns about cruelty in puppy farming. It also seems the politicains are being lobbied a fair bit over the proposed ban on docking dogs' tails. The details of what's under discussion can be found in the
At one point the DUP's Jim Wells raised his concern about the cooking of lobsters - wasn't boiling them alive inherently cruel? The minister responded that current research points to animals without backbones not feeling pain. However she said that if the research changes, she had made provision for the bill to be extended to invertebrates in the future.
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