The Committee is also concerned with some slaughtering and stunning practices being carried out in Guernsey and have therefore proposed prohibiting neck crushing and pithing instruments, and non-electric stun guns.  

E&I have also proposed specifically prohibiting producing foie gras by force feeding geese, the farming of animals solely for fur, hide, skin or feathers, and the use of wild animals in circuses.  

Laws would also be brought into line with the UK regarding the transport of livestock outside the British Isles, and a public register of nationally certified veterinary nurses and surgeons, with notification also required for visiting temporary vets.  

New powers would also be handed to enforcement officers to carry out animal welfare investigations, while penalties would apply to anyone breaching the new regulations.  

Deputy Lindsay de Sauamarez, President of E&I, said it’s “really important that Guernsey doesn't fall behind in this area.  

Pictured: Deputy Lindsay de Sausmarez.

“We do need keep up to speed in terms of animal welfare and the rapidly evolving understanding of animal sentience - the ability of animals to feel pain - and so we want to make sure that no animals in the Bailiwick are suffering unnecessarily.”  

She added that the islands must align with “main trading partners” as “we need to be seen as a mature and responsible jurisdiction in our own right, and this is one of the things that does get scrutiny when it comes to international trade agreements”. 

“It is important from an external relations perspective, that that we are compliant, we are moving in the right direction, we can demonstrate that Guernsey is doing everything in, you know, a proportionate and responsible way. And this is one of them,” Deputy de Sausmarez added.  

⁠Registering vets and vet practices, as it’s done in the UK, is also an element that E&I are hoping to mirror locally. 

“One of the drivers behind this legislation that we're proposing to bring in now is to bring us into better alignment with those and to take into account that veterinary practices in that in and of themselves have evolved quite significantly over the last 10 or 15 years,” she said.  

The States’ Vet, David Chamberlain, explained: “It's important that we keep a handle on who's here, when they were here, and what they were doing. The other thing is as a small government we want to make sure that if we push any jobs out to vets to do on our behalf as the government they are appropriately qualified”. 

He said full consultations were carried out with vets and various nature and animal welfare groups with little dissent from them.  

Pictured: David Chamberlain.

The Committee said the changes were about explicitly outlawing certain practices for the avoidance of any doubt for people in the community. 

“We currently say you can use these things to trap animals, for instance, we don't explicitly say you can't use these. That sometimes causes a little bit of doubt or confusion. So, what we're doing is we're going to say both; you can use these, and you can't use those,” Mr Chamberlain said. 

Should the changes be adopted, anyone in breach would be liable to a maximum penalty of a fine up to £5,000- or six-months' prison, or both. 

New powers would allow investigators of breaches to turn up unannounced to non-dwelling properties, with 24-hours' notice currently required.  

Deputy de Sausmarez said making what’s prohibited clearer within the law would help to show there isn’t an“open door” to inhumane practices. 

“We know that there have been examples in recent times of people using neck crushing devices and glue traps in an inappropriate way, and various other things that aren't on the list.  

“Some of these are methods or devices that we know are in current use or have been used recently in Guernsey. There are some other things on there, for example, for farming or the production of foie gras which to the best of our knowledge does not happen. But the fact that our legislation doesn't explicitly prohibit it is a problem because we don't want to be in a position where someone comes up and asks us for the licence to do one of these things.  

“It's out of step not to expressly prohibit those kinds of practices, because they're so widely prohibited elsewhere.” 

But there would be certain exceptions for certain methods, such as glue traps for controlling infestations, and lamping for environmental or scientific purposes on a licence. 

Mr Chamberlain said a good technique to capture migrating birds is to use artificial light, and this would be an acceptable and responsible use under the new laws. 

“You can walk up to it, pick the little guy up, attach your device and put him back down, switch the light off and leave him to fly off in the morning,” he said. 

Deputies will consider the proposed changes no earlier than their July meeting.