The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Pets & Working Animals => Horses, ponies, donkeys & mules => Topic started by: Sbom on May 29, 2014, 08:38:45 pm
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Ok, now I thought it was illegal to sell a horse without a passport so having seen one for sale on preloved I reported it......twice!
Advert still there so did I get it wrong??
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It is illegal.
But the idea of horse passports is meant to be to stop equines that have treated with drugs entering the human food chain. It fails miserably in this, as proved by the horsemeat scandal. Also vets, who are not paid to police the system, do not bother to record the use of drugs on the passport unless the owner requests it.
So are you actually hoping to change anything by reporting someone who has ignored a nationally flawed law?
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There are so many horses bought and sold down the pub/field for pennies these owners wouldn't know what the legalities are unfortunately :rant: It is so widespread that I think the only people staying within the law are the responsible horse owners who get them and consider the welfare and commitment.
There are currently two separate ponies near work kept in gardens no more than 12ft square on a housing estate and RSPCA won't get involved despite several alerts a day from worried locals. The ponies are tethered from time to time on the grass verge. They are at separate ends of the estate so no interaction with other horses either :'(
The owners won't pay for grazing so no chance of such owners paying for documents or veterinary treatment.
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Don't get me on about passports..... Its a legal blackhole. DEFA is responsible for the legislation but Trading standards apparently enforce it, but most have no interest or money to bother. So unless your vet wants it to record medication or someone from trading standards stop you they are a waste of paper.
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When the passport is worth more than the animal it hardly seems worth it.The passport has nothing to do with the food chain its so that,like in Foot and Mouth,if Western Nile Disease or any like disease enters the country its so where they know where your horses are to come and shoot them ;)
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An update from a meeting in Leicester about the poor conditions some ponies are being kept in.
Update from today's meeting. Those present were Leicestershire county council, Trading Standards, Police & RSPCA.
The outcome was not what I was hoping for. Trading standards state, they will not entertain enforcement of welfare law on any animal which is not destined to enter the food chain, end of.
They will not enforce any passport regulations in Leicestershire.
They are not responsible for Fosse park as that comes under the city council.
Their justification for this response is. They are on a tight budget & they MUST prioritise their resources for animals toward the food chain as deviation from that will in their view damage their effectiveness in protecting us the public by a potentially reduced service. Although they did admit our Leicestershire farming standards overall were very high, so they are not over worked in this area of their remit.
So until they are in the food chain they are not bothered.
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Which makes it a big white elephant :wave: hello Honeyend , Helen B here :wave:
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:wave:
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When the passport is worth more than the animal it hardly seems worth it.The passport has nothing to do with the food chain its so that,like in Foot and Mouth,if Western Nile Disease or any like disease enters the country its so where they know where your horses are to come and shoot them ;)
An interesting concept JJ.!
Could explain why I was threatened by Pet ID with a fine of several thousand pounds for selling a donkey whose passport did not have my name on as owner. They wouldn't report me, they said, if I paid the ownership transfer fee. Even though the animal was no longer mine! Needless to say I ignored their communication.
Strange that an equine is meant to have ownership transferred in 30 days, with threats of large fines. But if I forget to notify change of ownership of a cow (which incidently costs nothing to do) then all I get is a pleasant email prompting me to confirm the change.
Don't they realise that if they didn't charge between £10 - £20 for a 2 minute change of equine ownership, people would be quite happy to update the details.
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Answered your own question there...its about the money ;D
Why do you think all the Breed Society's got up in arms when they thought the whole thing was going to be passed over to one single agency like the cattle/sheep/pigs. They weren't worried about traceability, only by how much money they would loose, that's why they were so anxious to back the thing in the first place