North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood yesterday called on the First Minister to join him in congratulating four North Wales Councils and two Housing Associations for receiving awards from the RSPCA for their animal welfare work.
He also called on Carwyn Jones to respond to concerns raised with him in the Summer regarding the recent spate of animal injuries in the Denbighshire area caused by air rifles and crossbows.
Conwy, Denbighshire, Wrexham and Ynys Mon County Councils have all achieved awards in RSPCA Cymru’s Community Animal Welfare Footprint Awards 2018.
Denbighshire, Wrexham and Conwy winning Gold, and Ynys Mon winning Bronze in the Stray Dogs category, and Clwyd Alyn Housing Association and Cartrefi Cymunedol Gwynedd receiving awards in the Housing category.
Speaking in yesterday’s Questions to the First Minister, Mr Isherwood said:
“I'm sure you'll join me in congratulating the winners of RSPCA Cymru's Community Animal Welfare Footprint Awards in North Wales - Conwy Council, Denbighshire Council, Wrexham Council, Ynys Môn Council, Clwyd Alyn Housing Association and Cartrefi Cymunedol Gwynedd — and also in acknowledging the delivery of animal welfare through local authorities being an important requirement of those local authorities.
“How, therefore, do you feel we should respond to concerns raised with me this summer, when I went out with an RSPCA inspector in Denbighshire, about the recent spate of animal injuries in the area caused by air rifles and crossbows?
The First Minister replied: “That's deeply distressing. First of all, I join him of course in congratulating the local authorities involved. Where animals have been injured with weapons, people should have no compunction in reporting the matter to the police. I know that after the event has occurred it's far more difficult to track down the culprits, but where there is a pattern of behaviour in a particular area, at some point in time those people will make a mistake and quite often they get caught. It's deeply distressing, of course, for those who own pets and I would encourage them, even if they think that nothing will happen, I'd encourage them to register the issue with the police and report it as a crime.”