Strengthening Animal Welfare

Increased Protections for Pets & Wildlife

Animal welfare is a subject many of us feel extremely passionately about. Scotland is a nation of animal lovers.

The SNP Scottish Government has always taken animal welfare extremely seriously, and is determined to have the highest possible standards for all animals in Scotland.

All dogs over eight weeks old in Scotland must be microchipped under the Microchipping of Dogs (Scotland) Regulations 2016, and the Scottish Government has issued guidance on the use of dog training aids, including electronic training collars, due to concerns about the potential for misuse. The SNP in government have updated existing laws covering dog breeding and pet selling, bringing in licensing for cat and rabbit breeders, animal rescue centres, sanctuaries and other rehoming activities.  

The regulations also introduced “Lucy’s Law”, to prevent the third party sale of cats and dogs under six months’ old as pets in Scotland. This requires anyone wishing to buy a puppy or kitten to do so directly from a licensed breeder, or source one from a licensed rehoming centre.

The SNP Government introduced powers in the Animals and Wildlife (Penalties, Protections and Powers) (Scotland) Act 2020 to increase maximum sentences and fines for serious animal welfare offences. It was also the SNP who passed legislation to ban the use of wild animals in circuses and closed loopholes in the law protecting foxes - with The Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Act 2023 prohibiting chasing/killing wild mammals with dogs and restricting the number of dogs used for flushing, including a ban on trail hunting.

The Wildlife Management & Muirburn Bill further introduced a range of measures to help tackle raptor persecution and ensure that the management of species on grouse moors is done so sustainably and with animal welfare as a priority. This Bill banned the practice of snaring and the use of glue traps to catch rodents, gave greater powers to Scottish SPCA inspectors to tackle wildlife crime, and introduced a new licensing framework for grouse moors.

The Welfare of Farmed Animals (Scotland) Regulations 2010 outline the standards by which farmed animals are required to be kept in Scotland. It is an offence for a person responsible for farmed animals to fail to comply with any provisions that these Regulations make. In November the Scottish Government published an updated Livestock Health & Welfare Strategy for the next five years which aims to protect and improve the health and welfare of livestock in Scotland, building on the work carried out under the 2016 strategy.