Animals Act 1971 (Amendment) Bill

If that is the case, she will know that the debate turns on section 2(2)(b) of the Animals Act 1971 and the efforts of the hon. Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire to change its wording. The problem is that the origins of section 2 go back to the principle of scienter—to put it bluntly, the extent to which an owner knows what an animal may or may not do or could be attributed with that knowledge. We have to go back to first principles if we are going to start taking them apart. In 1329, there was a case of a cow that struck a child under the mouth, from which blow it died—