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Order! Order!

Hello, I'm Susan Hume and this is the Today in Parliament podcast for Friday the 5th of September.

Coming up, peers are unanimous in their support for a new bill to clamp down on pet smuggling

and mutilations such as earcropping.

Animal smugglers are despicable people, since they're making money from animal cruelty and

doing it over and over again. Personally, I would add cropping of their ears to the penalties

in the bill. Also, how will Zach Polanski work with the MPs he beat to win the Green Party

leadership? What will make it harder in his situation is that the current Green MPs and peers are pretty formidable figures in the party.

And as peers start an inquiry into waste crime, we visit a lay-by in Hertfordshire.

Somebody's obviously been clearing a house and have dumped things like bars, kitchen cabinets, chairs and it's soul-destroying.

But first, a long-awaited bill to clamp down on puppy and kitten smuggling has passed its first hurdle in the Lords.

The Animal Welfare Bill is designed to stop criminals exploiting rules designed to allow people to travel with their pets, to smuggle in large numbers of animals for sale.

The bill is being steered through the laws by a former president of the Royal College of Vets and Independent Peer, Lord Trees.

He said there was demand for around 950,000 puppies a year, but far fewer

than that were being born in the UK, meaning animals were being imported illegally to meet the

demand for pets. And scrupulous pet traders are exploiting loopholes in our pet travel rules.

And often these illegally imported animals have been raised. are exploiting loopholes in our pet travel rules.

And often these illegally imported animals have been raised in poor conditions abroad,

transported for many hours in bad conditions,

and have arrived in their destinations,

not in the best of health.

...