Live Feeding and the Law

claire_e_dodd · 09-19-07, 07:32 AM

It was always my common perception that feeding live prey in the UK was illegal.

However, after the topic arose in another forum, I did some research and found that this appears to be a gray area.

Does anyone KNOW what the law in the UK states about feeding live prey?

It would also be helpful if you could cite where you got your information from, as respected resources would be prefered, (i.e. government publictations).

**kitty** · 09-19-07, 08:48 PM

I don't have time to search more thoroughly right now, but this site looked promising for finding the text of UK laws: Acts of the UK Parliament

The downside is it only goes back as far as 1988. You may find links on the site for earlier items, though.

claire_e_dodd · 09-21-07, 09:32 AM

Hmmm, I've tried searching legislation but i'm not coming up with anything, I don't think i'm looking at the site right but cheers i'll keep looking!

Layla · 09-22-07, 03:22 PM

It was gray ish before but if the animal was deemed to be suffering and not humanely dispatched quickly first then it was illegal. Now there is the new animal welfare bill which is even more strict. SO if it was gray before it isnt now. If you get found to be feeding live you'll get done. This can mean getting ALL your animals confiscated. Not just snakes.
Im not sure why anyone would want to take the risk other than the obv pinky situ with bad feeding hatchlings.

**cornspot** · 09-22-07, 05:04 PM

Not from the UK & haven't looked up any laws but I always thought it was illegal to feed live to an animal that would eat pre-killed but that it was OK to feed live if that was all the animal would take & it wasn't done as a "show" or for thrills or whatever.

claire_e_dodd · 09-27-07, 07:13 AM

Im not sure why anyone would want to take the risk other than the obv pinky situ with bad feeding hatchlings.

Oh I don't WANT to feed live, I just wondered if there were any legalities surrounding it, as the topic often arises, but no one knows the facts.

From what I can gather, live feeding itself is not illegal, unless done in public, i.e. a demonstration. This is illegal as it moves the act from basic feeding to entertainment, which it is not. However feeding live as a last resort in the privacy of your own home is fine, UNLESS, someone makes a complaint, in which case you may be investigated and prosecuted for animal cruelty unless you can prove that live feeding was neccessary for the survival of the animal.

Samphibian · 01-30-08, 11:12 AM

Awkward topic this one. As far as I am aware (from reviewing the appropriate government animal welfare legislation, available for any to read form DEFRAS website) there is no specific legislation prohibiting the feeding of live vertebrate prey. It is my belief that this is done on purpose to avoid the unneccessary prosecution of responsible keeper's should they (for whatever reason) NEED to attempt live feeding in those one off, last resort sort of occasions.
There are,however, a number of ways in which the law can be moulded to prosecute irresponsible keepers who are livefeeding simply for sadistic pleasureor a mistaken belief that it is "more natural".
Heres an interesting debate on the subject:

The issue we have is on the welfare Clause, Clause 3(4)(c), the need to be able to exhibit normal behaviour patterns. That is really where part of this is coming from. The feeding of live prey to reptiles is extremely rare. Ten years ago it used to be common practice. In many parts of the world, Europe, Holland, France and Germany, it is still the most common way of feeding. We do not enter into that practice here. 99.8% of what we feed will be pre killed, frozen rodents. On occasion, particularly if we are bringing in new species of snakes or whatever, you may have a specimen which is a reluctant feeder and in those circumstances it may be appropriate to feed a live vertebrate to that animal under controlled conditions. Currently under the 1911 Act it is not illegal to feed a live vertebrate to another unless you cause it unnecessary suffering, so that would have to be the result of a court case and the judge would have to make a decision. Those of us who have been involved with reptiles will argue that a mouse that is being produced for food really has no cognizance of what is going on and exhibits no fear. Whilst we absolutely do not want to encourage live feeding, we think we need some clarity as to whether that is going to be made illegal under this clause of fighting. Our concerns are, because of Clause 3(iv)(c), the need to be able to exhibit normal behaviour patterns, that snakes in the wild feed on life prey, there are no carrion feeding snakes, so that would mean we are not going to be able to feed them frozen food; we are going to have to feed them live mice, and equally we would be opposed to having to introduce that. The other issue we have is with breeding. Certain species of reptiles, iguanas would be a good example, engage in quite robust mating activity, and I am afraid the lady tends to suffer quite badly on occasions, but that is a natural process and if people are going to breed these animals that will happen, so we need to make certain that is not caught up in fighting, and you are not going to introduce iguanas together for any kind of sport if you are going to breed them. You may see them exhibit some kind of aggressive behaviour towards each other if the male is meeting the female, and that is quite common in quite a number of lizard species.
Q163 Joan Ruddock: On that point is it documented that this aggression is not part of being in captivity?
Mr Newman: It is well documented, yes.

Q164 Joan Ruddock: Because if that is the case then I would see that is the test of reasonableness that the law would take account of, but on your concept that a mouse—I suppose it is a mouse—did not know it was being bred to be fed to a snake, presumably at the point at which the snake is about to devour it, the mouse is aware and is afraid?
Mr Newman: The mice when introduced to a snake show no fear at all. They will quite often go up and sniff the snake. They are not aware that it is a predator.

Q165 Joan Ruddock: Well, they would not be because—
Mr Newman: Exactly. The strike is in milliseconds and the constriction takes place very quickly. I think any suffering there—and we are killing something so you could argue that wherever you kill something there is suffering—to that animal is so minimal and is very fast, and it is natural behaviour that happens millions of times every day in the wild. But I must stress that we are not looking to say that this is how we want to feed our snakes. We are just trying to make sure we have clarity on this because it could be an issue, with some of the newer species of snakes, and there are snakes being discovered all the time which keen enthusiasts want to bring into captivity. On rare occasions it may be necessary and we just need to make certain that if that is the case we can still do it legally.

Q166 Joan Ruddock: Or alternatively that perhaps we decide as a society that we do not want people to have the opportunity to feed mice to snakes and therefore it will not be allowed, so if they cannot ingest a frozen mouse or whatever it is, then your new snake is going to die, I am afraid.
Mr Newman: Usually live feeding would be the last resort. There are various techniques we have to encourage snakes to feed but there are certain species, Green Tree Pythons and Green Tree Boas, which are quite sensitive. These are animals which can stress quite easily and actually force feeding a snake or assist feeding a snake is quite stressful to that snake, and I think people then have to make a decision whether they think that is better for the animal or whether it would be better for that animal, as it would do in nature, to let it kill its own prey.

This was lifted from House of Commons - Environment, Food and Rural Affairs - Minutes of Evidence

Now, this was before the most recent welfare act, in which you can be prosecuted for "arranging a fight between two animals". However, I believe that each case would still be treated individually - so if you are feeding live prey to a snake as a last resort, after consulting with specialist keepers and veterinarians, and having more ocnventional methods fail then I believe charges would be wavered...however if your feeding live for any other reason then you should be prosecuted for negligence as you have put your animal at great risk of horrific injury when there exists a wide selection of completely valid alternatives.

In the majority of cases, its best to assume that live feeding is illegal, and that you can only do so in individual exceptional cicumstances where no other options exist-something like that should not be decided overnight, but after discussions with DEFRA and specialist organisations.

Layla · 01-30-08, 12:10 PM

Im sure if you get a vets letter stating the animal is starving and going to die otherwise. However if the RSPCA gets a wiff of it they would probably find some way to complain.
Even if the animal is at that point live feeding doesnt always work. One of the best methods imo is chick scenting or washing the f/t food with soap and thoroughly rinsing. I think a lot of snakes can be finicky feeders due to their source (WC) or their environment.