Northern Ireland Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Andrew Muir, has today (Thursday, May 22) published an ambitious 10-point plan to improve animal welfare through a series of reforms.
The Animal Welfare Pathway—Advancing Animal Welfare in Northern Ireland 2025-27 focuses on strengthening animal welfare of companion and farmed animals through enhanced legislation and initiatives.
Making the announcement on a visit to the Dogs Trust in Ballymena, Minister Muir said: “Caring for our animals should be a priority for all of us, whether they are our beloved pets or in a farm setting.
“The current legislation and practices simply don’t go far enough to protect animals from exploitation or poor behaviour.
“I want to make sure that our legislation is robust and that we have initiatives in place to ensure the animals we are responsible for are cared for appropriately.
“This means not only protecting them from bad practices like third-party selling, aversive training and lack of microchipping, but also ensuring that when people do treat animals poorly, our enforcement partners have robust powers and effective penalties.”
Animal welfare
There are 10 key reforms proposed in the document:
- Legislative reform to prohibit third-party pet sales;
- Expert-led review of current dog breeding laws, to include assessing the need for regulation of canine fertility services;
- Examining the case for mandatory microchipping of cats;
- Strengthening microchipping requirements for dogs;
- An awareness-raising campaign, to promote animal welfare requirements and highlight the need for responsible dog ownership;
- Consideration of licensing of day-care and home-boarding for dogs and cats;
- Review of dog licence fees;
- Examining the evidence for prohibition on aversive training devices;
- Regulation of rescue and rehoming organisations;
- Mandatory requirements for CCTV use in all areas of slaughterhouses where animals are kept.
Minister Muir has said that this plan builds upon a range of initiatives already underway such as the Paws for Thought campaign.
He explained that a range of other measures are also being separately progressed in terms of farmed animals such as implementation of blueprint to eradicate bovine tuberculosis (bTB) recently agreed by the TB Partnership Steering Group and roll-out of new bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) legislation.
The minister continued: “Since coming into office, I have been determined to move forward quickly on animal welfare issues and many actions are already in progress.
“A recruitment competition is underway to appoint an expert advisory group to review the regulation of dog breeding in Northern Ireland and a public consultation on making the use of CCTV in slaughterhouses mandatory has just closed.
“Additionally, a public consultation on the proposed new rules on the prohibition of third-party pet sales will be launching in the coming weeks.”
Dogs Trust chief of staff Adam Clowes said: “At the start of his tenure, Minister Muir outlined his commitment to improving animal welfare in Northern Ireland.
“We are therefore pleased to see today’s publication of the Animal Welfare Pathways, reaffirming that commitment and setting out robust measures for improving the lives of our companion animals and their owners.
“The proposals within the Pathways reflect many of the priorities Dogs Trust, and other rehoming organisations, have consistently advocated for, including a ban on third-party puppy sales, a review of existing dog breeding legislation, and the regulation for rescue and rehoming organisations.”
The Pathway has been developed following engagement with stakeholders in animal welfare, including the Northern Ireland Companion Animal Welfare Group, local councils, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), veterinary associations, and agricultural bodies.
