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Hello, I'm Susan Hume and this is the Yesterday in Parliament podcast.

On Friday, the 5th of September, there was support from across the House of Lords

for a new law to clamp down on pet smuggling and the import of mutilated animals.

The political world may have been alight with the news of Angela Renner's resignation,

but in the House of Lords,

Peir still had the bandwidth and the passion to deal with an enduring concern, animal welfare.

There is no veterinary nor medical justification for cropping of dogs' ears.

It's a disgusting fashion fad which needs to be outlawed everywhere.

Therefore, bans on bringing in dogs with cropped ears are essential.

That's the Conservative shadow minister, Lord Blancathra,

speaking in favour of the bill to ban the import of mutilated animals

and clamp down on the illegal importing of cats, dogs and ferrets.

Although the government supports the bill, it's being steered through the laws by an independent peer Lord Trees,

a former president of the Royal Society of Vets.

He said unscrupulous traders exploited loopholes in the current law,

designed to allow pet owners to travel abroad with their animals.

Currently, deceitful traders can claim ownership of up to five pets each.

So if you pack a van with five people, you can bring 25 animals in perfectly legally under current conditions. Indeed, some peers felt five dogs per

vehicle was still too many. The Minister Lady Haman explained why the number of animals

was set at five. One of the reasons for that decision was to not create unintended consequences for assistance dog users.

But she said the number could be lowered, perhaps to three animals per vehicle,

...