Animals Act 1971 (Amendment) Bill

My hon. Friend has told a good story, although I could probably beat it. Let me give an example. We talk about strict liability in respect of the Bill, but what does that mean? On a twilight evening during the 2001 general election, I was walking down Lincoln avenue, a large road in my constituency. It was about 9 o'clock at night and dark. I went to put a leaflet through a letterbox, but did not spot two Alsatians chained to a drainpipe. I had not expected to find them there, that is for sure—and I certainly would not have expected such dogs to keep quiet until I was about two inches from them, when they started to bark and jump at me. Who had the liability in that situation? Were the dogs entitled to be there? Was any person who went through the gate, which was open, liable? Alternatively, did the owner, who stupidly left the dogs out for whatever purpose, have liability? I have read bits and pieces about strict liability in respect of the Bill. Animals are not usually bad; they do not deliberately attack somebody unless the owner trains them to do so, as happens in a lot of cases, or unless such behaviour is a characteristic of their breed and it is in their genes—as with hunting dogs, for example. We would not expect somebody to have such an animal in a built-up, city centre area and certainly not to chain them to a drainpipe in a garden. Such strong animals could pull the drainpipe down and attack passers-by. Would that be the dog's fault? In some cases, it would not be; it is usually down to the owners. I have great sympathy for people who are attacked by animals and I would complain about the animal in such cases, and it is the animal who will eventually suffer. In a lot of cases, if it has a history of such behaviour, it will be put down, yet we would never think of putting down the owner for the treatment of the animal or for teaching it to act in such a way. I therefore have a problem with strict liability. Hon. Members have discussed the Animals Act 1971 and its intent. We are now in 2008—quite a long way down the road from 1971. I look favourably on the Bill because the hon. Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire is trying to tackle what has happened in the meantime. However, intent and need are not the same and I wonder about the treatment of the ordinary person under the Bill. The Wild Mammals (Hunting with Dogs) Bill caused all sorts of problems. It was said that the dogs were always under control, that the riders knew what they were doing and that the measure was unnecessary because we simply had to make sure that the existing rules were used. Similar comments have been made about the Bill that we are debating. Yet we know that a pack of animals does not act in the same way as an individual animal; animals act differently in a group. Some animals hunt in packs and their behaviour in the pack is different from that when they are individual pets in somebody's sight. We discussed the problem of the plastic bag and a horse rearing. If we substitute a child—or an adult—for the plastic bag, and the person is crippled by the horse, as in the case that my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon (Mr. Dismore) mentioned, what sort of liability do they have? Their lives might be drastically changed because of an accident with an animal. How do they ensure that they are looked after? I have difficulty with that. It is easy for people to say that the animals were simply doing what they do, and that the horse reared because the child or adult frightened or shocked it. However, the person—I would call him or her the victim—has to live with whatever disability they end up with.