Bajans warned of penalties for mistreatment of animals

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Senator Dr Shantal Munro-Knight has warned local animal owners that they risk legal consequences if they fail to take good care of their animals.

Speaking during Wednesday’s debate in the Upper House on the Animal Health and Veterinary Public Health Bill, 2023, Dr Munro-Knight said the practice of endangering animals must end.

“The creator has given us the responsibility to act responsibly in the care of these animals. Very often we are callous and irresponsible, and we see some of those acts every day in the way that we treat animals. 

“We have instances where animals are tied out and staked out for hours, sometimes without cover, sometimes without water…. We have instances where they are not able to exercise – the coops or the crates are so small. All of those instances endanger the welfare of animals,” she said. 

The Animal Health and Veterinary Public Health Bill, 2023 includes penalties for persons convicted of engaging in animal abuse, torture, and cruelty.

A person is liable on summary conviction to a fine of $50 000 or to a term of imprisonment of two years, or both.

Dr Munro-Knight said that the increase in fines associated with such offences reflects the serious nature of these acts in the eyes of the current administration.

“It is something that we ought to take seriously because it says something about the character of a people, in terms of how they treat to the animals that we have been given responsibility for,” she said.

“I know . . . we would have discussed this before and would have lamented the lack of practical penalties in order to be able to address this issue and to signal to the society that this is something that we ought to treat with [a] level of seriousness.”  

The Senator also emphasised the new surveillance programmes being implemented under the legislation. She said that given the rise in various viral illnesses in livestock, discovered in several jurisdictions, Barbados needs to treat surveillance protocols with a high level of priority.

“The threat is extremely real in the Dominican Republic in particular, in the context of the African Swine Fever, where now the reports are that it is much out of control and there is a suggestion that they might have to cull the entire [drove], which is reported to be as much as 1.8 million pigs.

“That is the decimation of livelihoods that we are talking about…. If you don’t have this legislation, the level of protection and administration of our agriculture sector, then we can have a very real problem that impacts livelihoods.” (SB)