DEFRA: No use to anyone.
No one knows what caused DEFRA to think they were capable of writing far-reaching and consequential legislation for a sector they had no knowledge of - it was purported to have been written to improve animal welfare but there’s no evidence that neglect or mistreatment was widespread or present in any licensed boarding establishment … and remarkably, not a single regulation in the entire document would be able prevent or detect even if it did exist.
So when the cattery industry received their updated regulations 2019, local authorities were handed 26 pages of infantilising gibberish aimed directly at changing how an entire industry operates is insane. Having local authority desk-jockeys telling business owners how to run their businesses after building up their reputations with local people over decades with virtually zero government interference is beyond insane.
- There's no place for this legislation except the trash - Our sector only needs a single beneficial standard issued as a welfare advisory - and by removing all of the absurd rating options and arbitrary standards we’d halve the number of pages and simply cut the cost of inspections to almost zero.
- It would take less than a week to raise animal welfare awareness, reduce the legislation to three pages of universal and policeable recommendations and write an educational advisory on hygiene measures for new businesses without involving any local authorities and without forcing a single cattery to close.