What will the new Scottish Government do for animals? Is animal welfare going to be a political hot potato or will it be shut in a dark barn and forgotten about? Here’s three reasons to be optimistic that we will see progress in how animals are treated in Scotland over the next five years of this Parliament.
1) A third of MSPs have pledged to do more for Scotland’s animals
In the run up to the elections we worked with Blue Cross, Cats Protection, the League Against Cruel Sports and PDSA to ask all candidates to pledge to do More for Scotland’s animals. 123 candidates made the pledge by the time the elections came round. A great result, made possible thanks to all our supporters who contacted their candidates asking them to make the pledge. 41 of the candidates who made the pledge were elected. That’s almost one-third of all new MSPs! And it even includes a Cabinet member - Angela Constance, Cabinet Secretary for Communities, Social Security and Equalities, took the pledge.
2) The Scottish public overwhelmingly support progress for animals
OneKind and our partners commissioned a YouGov Poll in March to test public support for progress on animal welfare issues in Scotland. YouGov asked 1000 adults in Scotland the extent to which they supported or opposed ten key policy recommendations that animal charities, including OneKind, have put forward. The results? The majority supported every single one of them. Here’s three examples that are particularly close to our hearts here at OneKind.
Snares are used across the country to mainly catch foxes and hare, but catch and kill wildlife, as well as cats and dogs, indiscriminately. Snaring is closely linked to commercial grouse shooting in Scotland, an activity which our polling suggests 52% of the public would also support banning. We were surprised this was so high given the low public profile this issue has.
The use of wild animals in circuses is something that we have been campaigning on for years. With 76% of the public supporting a ban, and no circus using wild animals currently performing in Scotland, surely there can be no need to delay a ban any further?
It is fair to say that Scotland is a nation of pet lovers, with an estimated 20% of Scottish households owning a dog and 15% owning a cat. Top of the new Minister’s desk will be a decision on whether to ban electric shock training collars. Our polling suggests he can expect only celebration if he makes the right call and bans these cruel devices.
3) Some serious commitments have been made by the parties
The SNP have some positive commitments in their manifesto that we look forward to holding them to. This includes banning wild animals in circuses and reviewing a broad range of policies or laws that are currently not working as well as they should, including the hunting with dogs ‘ban’, wildlife crime prevention, and pet welfare. Pet welfare includes electric shock collars and pet vending, amongst other things (we assume).
Scottish Labour and Scottish Greens also had some impressive commitments in their manifestos that we hope to see them pursue in opposition. Both, for example, back a ban on snares, which gives us some hope that this could happen in this Parliament. Here’s our handy summary of whose manifesto covered what.
What do you think? Will we see progress in Scotland for animals? What key issue is being ignored by the Parties? We’d love to hear your views.