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Animal Welfare Bill

I shall not elaborate on what the noble Baroness said, but she is right to ask for greater clarification and recognises that the needs of wild animals are greater than those of domesticated animals—in certain circumstances, I would add. The noble Countess, Lady Mar, raised a very important point with the question of those who consider their animals as pets. I distinguish those people from those whom I consider to be hobby farmers, because a lot of hobby farmers show animals such as Dexters and deal with them with a proper, farm-like approach. So we have a very wide range here and I do not envy the Minister in having to make a response. We have distinguished between wild animals with their needs, domesticated animals with their needs, pets which are actually farmed animals but are kept as pets, and the genuine hobby farmers, whom I would class as farmers anyway. I look forward to the Minister’s response.