Ms Brenda Fitzpatrick:

The point about pet insurance is interesting. It would be interesting to dig deeper into that to see what the correlation is. I am not entirely convinced about, but if a pet is stolen in England, the owner stops paying insurance on that pet. There are people in this country who have pet insurance as well. Many people find it hard to get pet insurance. It depends on the breed of dog, for example, if you have a restricted breed, the age of the dog, underlying medical conditions and so on. I hope that will not be a factor. It is certainly something that insurance companies must start to revise.

We are here today to support the work Lisa has done for all of these years. She has never given up, even in the darkest time for this country during Covid, when so many animals were either being stolen or bred in back gardens and on puppy farms, when there were no consequences regarding dogs such as XL bullies, and when some animals were just being killed. We are also here as a voice for the ladies sitting behind us, who are representative of so many dog owners around the country. When your family member is stolen from you, you never get your life back. Your life is never the same again. The impact of losing that animal lasts and stays with you forever. It impacts on your mental well-being and family dynamic. The consequences are so upsetting and devastating.

We have come to a point in our country where things must change. We cannot just sit around talking about things any more. There are simple measures that we can all put in place to effect change. I refer here to a change in the legislation to recognise animals as companion animals. In time, that will hopefully lead to a further status of emotional support being granted. The national database of stolen animals must be shared across all counties. We must look at the punitive measures in place for those who are found guilty. They must be on a live register that can be accessed nationwide. People must also be banned from owning animals again. We must also look at whether the penalty should be financial or should involve imprisonment. Progressing this is a really important measure for the House to take. Once this is in place, things like the national education campaign and so on will flow as well. I thank members for their time.