Welsh Assembly supports a review of Animal Welfare Act – JUSTICE FOR CHUNKY –

Justice for Chunky – Welsh Assembly show support for a review of the Animal Welfare Act.

Please see update from Chunky’s owner, Maxine, below.

Hello My Lovely Justice for Chunky Supporters:

We are back from our holiday to the states where we spent quite a bit of time inside due to hurricane Matthew. Now that were back, I just wanted to update you all about the recent movements in the petition and what is happening in the UK.

We have joined forces with someone from Wales who is working closely with the Welsh Assembly. The Welsh Assembly is taking this issue more serious than the British Government; and that is where you guys come in. We need all of you to send letters to your MP demanding that the Animal Welfare Act is looked into and how an abuse register would work alongside it. The British Government is worried about the Data Protection Act. The work around, so I have been told is that a The Assembly cannot override the Data Protection Act. The solution is for the Secretary of State (i.e. the UK Government) to make an Order (under paragraph 10 of Schedule 3 to the Data Protection Act) to allow the information to be transferred. Orders have been made previously in respect of certain offences e.g. possessing indecent images of children.

What I don’t understand is why the Data Protection Act is a big issue when the British Government is already making this exception for the sex offenders register. The sex offenders register in the UK already covers the following, which is far more than our original request.

On registering with the police, an offender must provide specific information including:
•Their name (and any other names they may use)
•Their address and any other address where they regularly stay
•Whether living with a child; or if staying in a household where a child lives for at least 12 hours a day
•Details of their conviction
•Details of bank accounts to which they have access
•Their date of birth
•Their national insurance number
•Details of any passports they may hold

Once registered, the police (as the Public Protection Team) will visit the offender at home to check they are living there, and to undertake an informal assessment.

In September 2012, Peter Vallone Jr introduced a Bill to the same effect in New York City USA. He said: “It’s modeled after the Sex Offender Registry. If you’re on the registry, you would not be able to adopt or buy a pet in the city.” The Registry will be provided to all interested parties, such as animal sanctuaries, pet stores and the police.

In June 2016, I walked into a pet shop and purchased a kitten without any checks, no identification and I walked out with a cat that I now call cheeseburger (OK let the laughter begin- the cat picked his name; seriously) anyways, when I purchased this cat I did not have anyone talk to me about where it would be living, what I planned on doing with it, or who it was going to. I was simply handed a cat in a box and sent on my way for £90. Fair enough, I’m not an animal abuser and they got lucky this time. But what IF I had been an abuser who was using kittens for some sick type of torture? Wouldn’t you want to know that the pet shop that sold me that cat had done everything possible in order to protect that kitten? If you answer yes to that question then please help us. Please help us by raising money for the registerhttps://www.gofundme.com/justiceforchunky so we can travel to these places and speak with the people trying to make it happen. Please help us by writing your MP, or helping us proof read something. Or maybe even take five minutes out of your day to email us some suggestions: aarwy2016@gmail.com we need you to help us get this through.

At this moment in time we are heading off to wales to speak with the AM who is trying to get this register through. We hope to update you with the meeting! Our hope is that we can get someone to come in and speak about the importance of the register and why we need one.

Thank you for your continued support, it’s very much appreciated. Updates to follow shortly, keep coming back and follow us on Facebook!

Maxine