HORSE TETHERING - UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL'S INVESTIGATION

That this House recognises the University of Bristol’s 2014 investigation into the welfare of long-line tethered and free-ranging horses kept on public grazing land in South Wales; notes from this research that no shelter was provided in over 80 percent of animal tethering cases and up to 90 per cent of the animals were not given water regularly; further notes that less than three per cent of tethered horses in the study spent more than five minutes a day off the tether; recognises that horse tethering is an animal welfare issue taking place in many towns across the United Kingdom; and therefore calls on the Government to introduce measures to ensure that if tethering is a person’s only method of keeping an animal, that they should not be permitted to keep that animal.