Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) Bill: Bill 118 of 2024–25

Farmers and police forces have called for modernisation of the law on dogs worrying and attacking livestock. Incidents can cause death, injury and lost pregnancies for affected animals, as well as distress and financial loss for farmers.

The Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) Bill is a House of Commons private member’s presentation bill, sponsored by Aphra Brandreth (Conservative MP for Chester South and Eddisbury) and supported in the House of Lords by Baroness Coffey (Conservative). The bill would change the law in England and Wales by amending the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 to:

• bring llamas and alpacas into the definition of livestock
• extend locations in scope from fields and enclosures to include roads and paths
• increase police powers to detain dogs, enter properties and gather evidence
• increase the penalty for offences and allow for a court to order an offender to pay expenses associated with seizing and detaining a dog
• exempt dog owners from liability where the dog is in the charge of another person without the owner’s consent

The bill is identical to the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) Bill 2023–24, and includes amendments made to that bill during its Commons stages. The 2023–24 bill, sponsored by then-MP Thérèse Coffey, fell at dissolution after completing its Commons stages. Measures in both bills also reflect some provisions in the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill, which was introduced in the 2021–22 session and then carried over to the 2022–23 session, before the government announced it would not proceed with the bill.

The government supports the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) Bill, and the Department for Food, Agriculture and Rural Affairs has provided explanatory notes.

Image by Anita from Pixabay