Animals Act 1971 (Amendment) Bill

Before my hon. Friend moves off that point, may I say that I do not think that anyone would accuse the hon. Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire of trying to mess around in the Bill? He is acting from the noblest of motives. We talk about inherent characteristics, but our problem is that, as in the case of the Burmese elephant and the then entitled ““midget””, this is about the strength of the animal and its ability rather than its characteristics. A famous sign in the Paris zoo translates into English as, ““This animal is very bad. When it is attacked, it defends itself.”” Surely every single animal has within it the ability or characteristic in certain circumstances to act in a way that would define it as dangerous.