Lorriane Barrett AM is a member of the Welsh Assembly.

It’s been a while since my last article in Impact; but as they say a week is a long time in politics - so as you can imagine there’s quite a bit to report.

We have seen some really positive developments on the Animal Welfare front. Notably, after campaigning for a ban on the use of electric shock collars I was delighted when, on 25^th June this year, and after a detailed consultation period, the Minister announced a proposed ban on electronic training devices. This is a great step forwards in protecting animals from unnecessary harm.

The Animal Welfare Act came into force in Wales in March last year. As you know it’s the most significant piece of legislation for animal welfare for nearly a century, ensuring action is taken to prevent suffering before it actually happens. The Act devolves power to the Welsh Assembly Government to promote animal welfare, devise Codes of Practice and set up licensing systems.

The Act also offers myself and other elected members the opportunity to change and modernise existing policy and make it more relevant to Wales or to take a different route than the other respective UK administrations have chosen. I utilised this instrument almost immediately following the Act’s implementation, tabling an amendment to the Docking of Working Dogs’ Tails (Wales) Regulations 2007 which ensured that cross bred dogs will keep their tails and the pool of pure-bred dogs who can continue to have their tails docked has been reduced. This was a bit nail biting for me because it was the last sitting day before the Assembly Elections in 2007, and the last day of business for the second Assembly before it was granted new powers under the Government of Wales Act - and I was delighted to have the support of the Labour cabinet, which won us the day.

Unfortunately, it’s not all good news from Wales for Animal Welfare. In fact, one issue has dominated my attention, and newspaper columns, for quite some time. That is a "targeted cull" of badgers which has been announced as part of a plan in Wales to eradicate tuberculosis in cattle. The location of the area and details of the cull have yet to be decided, but we know that the wide-scale area will have manmade or hard boundaries and that every badger within will be systematically exterminated. The announcement sparked a 300 strong protest on the steps of the Senedd.

Bovine TB is a very serious condition for cattle and for cattle farmers, right across the UK. Extensive research has been undertaken on the issue, including a ten year independent inquiry commissioned by the UK Government which found that a badger cull would make “no meaningful contribution” to the control of TB and could in fact make matters worse.

In the republic of Ireland we have seen a systematic cull of badgers, virtually eliminating them from most areas, but that has failed to address the high incidences of Bovine TB there. What is needed is an effective and sustainable solution to tackle the disease – better animal husbandry and farming practices combined the best way to deal with it. A badger cull does not take account of the cyclical nature of the problem in wildlife more generally.

I have, of course, been rigorously campaigning against the proposal at any opportunity available, and I was delighted to hear that DEFRA Ministers had rejected a cull of badgers in England. Not surprisingly they instead stated that they were following scientific evidence and the recommendations of the Independent Scientific Group on TB in Cattle.

I tabled a Statement of Opinion in the Assembly calling on the Minister to rule out a cull in Wales, and to return to a scientific-evidence based approach to tackling Bovine TB and considering evidence on which the DEFRA Minister had made his decision. My colleague, Alun Michael MP - who represents the same constituency as me in the UK Parliament – tabled the equivalent, an Early Day Motion, in Westminster welcoming DEFRAs announcement and calling on Wales to re-examine their proposal to press ahead with a cull.

I am frankly embarrassed that Wales is proposing to go forward with a pointless, targeted cull. Aside from the animal welfare issues for both badgers and cattle, a cull is an unforgivable waste of money and time.

I’m continuing to campaign on this, and I know that I have the support of the majority of Labour ‘backbenchers’ which I hope will give us a strong voice.

The All Party Group on Animal Welfare which I chair is continuing to work on a variety of issues; we recently achieved some substantial advances for greyhounds through the Greyhound Network Wales particularly for ex-race dogs. Work with this group is keeps going apace.