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Animals Act 1971 (Amendment) Bill

I have not studied the form of the insurance industry in relation to the equestrian industry. That is a matter for the insurance industry. It is a belief among those in the equestrian industry that premiums will go down. If the insurance industry is advancing to particular businesses the argument that the reason why insurance premiums are higher this year is the lack of clarity and the test cases, businesses will obviously say to their broker, ““Hang on a minute, the law has been clarified. Don't give me that excuse. You put the premium up last year, advancing that argument. I expect to see a reduction.”” That will be a matter between the client and his insurer. That is not the Government's primary objective in supporting the Bill; our objective is clarification of the law. We need to consider three situations. First, we need to consider damage caused by animals of a dangerous species. Secondly, there is damage caused by an individual animal of a non-dangerous species when that animal is known to possess a peculiarly dangerous trait, such as a particularly vicious dog; my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, North-West (John Robertson) talked about vicious dogs, and I will deal with his points later. Thirdly, we need to consider damage caused by individual animals of a non-dangerous species when animals of that species are known to possess dangerous characteristics in certain circumstances. There is no question but that strict liability should apply in the first of those situations. Anyone who chooses to bring a dangerous animal into society should bear full responsibility for its behaviour. Likewise, in the second instance, anyone who owns a dog, horse, sheep or cow that is known to be particularly dangerous should bear full responsibility for any damage that it causes. However, the third situation is more tricky. There are certain situations in which it is reasonable to expect that the owner or keeper of an ordinary animal should know that there is a greater risk that it could cause damage. The situation that is often quoted is that of a cow with calves or a bitch with puppies. It is known that animals in those conditions are often more aggressive. It therefore seems perfectly sensible to require the keepers of animals in such circumstances to bear full responsibility for their actions, and to take extra precautions to see that they do not present a danger to the public. I see nods of agreement. There are also other occasions on which a normally placid animal can cause damage, such as when it is scared or surprised. That is the crux of today's debate: when should strict liability apply in respect of such accidents, and when should it be left to liability in negligence, which will continue to apply across the board? Let us be clear that the framers of the original Act did not envisage strict liability applying to all damage caused by all animals in all circumstances.