On Tuesday, Hedges – Welsh Labour’s culture spokesperson – used a question to First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth to ask what actions the government was taking to improve animal welfare.
After ap Iorwerth said it would “develop a science-led animal health and welfare plan” for the country, Hedges said it reflected badly on society if “we allow animals to be mistreated, either by ignorance or cruelty”.
Hedges suggested several reforms, including microchipping cats, bans on tethering horses, owning primates, cage breeding of game birds and ending the use of Larsen traps – spring-door wire cages used to catch birds like magpies and crows.
He added that Wales should allow “rabbit ownership only after a short training course where individuals can show they understand the needs of rabbits”.
The Senedd election in May saw Hedges’ Labour lose power in Wales for the first time since the country got its own parliament in 1999, with Plaid Cymru becoming its largest party and taking over the running of the Welsh government.
Asked by Hedges if the Welsh government would bring in these changes, Plaid leader ap Iorwerth only said his government wanted to “set high standards for the treatment of animals”.
Conservative Senedd member Andrew RT Davies later said he questioned “the practicality of the kind of training that has been suggested”.
“Those in power must focus on feasible measures to deliver the high animal welfare standards the public expects,” he said.
A Conservative source told Wales that the proposal was “hare-brained”.
They added that “people will be hopping mad that Labour see it as a priority”, and that Hedges should “focus on the mess which his party has left Wales in”.
Wales’ Greens leader Anthony Slaughter said his party would lend support “wherever there is a case to improve human knowledge around how to best care for a pet”.
