if anyone can point me in right direction asap id be grateful. Im manning a hunt supporters stand this week at the local agric show....however one of the comittee members has told me she is going to bring along a cage of kittens for sale!!!!! I am fuming as feels its no way or place to be selling kittens and i really want a legal reason not to have her/them on the stand rather than just saying "no". Ive tried google on animal sales/law but nothing.....can anyone point me in direction of a web site that may have info on it please?

Not sure sorry, definitely not a good idea though!

A quick google came up with this link which contains the following paragraph but I am unclear whether it's a proposal or actual law:-

Amendment No. 167 addresses the proposed repealing of Section 2 of the Pet Animals Act 1951. That section, as amended in 1983, is headed,

      "Pets not to be sold in streets, etc",

and provides that:

      "If any person carries on a business of selling animals as pets in any part of a street or public place, or at a stall or barrow in a market, he shall be guilty of an offence".

As noble Lords may be aware, as originally enacted, Section 2 had provided that:

      "If any person carries on a business of selling animals as pets in any part of a street or public place, except at a stall or barrow in a market, he shall be guilty of an offence".

The reason for the enactment of Section 2 in 1951 is therefore clear. It was to make it a criminal offence to sell animals as pets in public places, but still to allow the selling of animals from market stalls. As a result of that enlightened reform, the sight of surplus puppies, kittens and other animals being sold out of a cardboard box at the roadside has thankfully become a distant memory, even for those old enough to remember the years before 1951. It is almost impossible to understand why anyone would want that to reappear.

http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/welfare/domestic/index.htm

The Pet Animals Act 1951

The Pet Animals Act 1951 (as amended in 1983) protects the welfare of animals sold as pets. The Act requires any person keeping a pet shop to be licensed by the local authority. Before granting a licence the local authority must be satisfied that the animals are kept in accommodation that is both suitable and clean; that they are supplied with appropriate food and drink; and are adequately protected from disease and fire. The local authority may attach any conditions to the licence, may inspect the licensed premises at all reasonable times and may refuse a licence if the conditions at the premises are unsatisfactory or if the terms of the licence are not being complied with.

Local authorities are responsible for enforcing the law in this area and anyone who has reason to believe that a pet shop is keeping animals in inadequate conditions should raise the matter with the local authority who will decide what action to take within the range of its powers.

Under s.2 pets cannot be sold in the street, including on barrows and markets.

But how would your event be classified?

Either phone the RSPCA or Cats Protection anonmously and tell them this person's intentions & whether they can send someone along on Saturday to take the kittens away.

Could try asking if she has a pedlars licence.

http://www.askthe.police.uk/content/Q239.htm

Good idea. It always amazes me when people don't care where their animals end up. I bought some kittens recently and they asked me nothing - whether I had kids / a garden / a job / had ever kept cats. I mentioned my dogs, for all she knew I may have had a pack of boisterous big dogs who had never encountered a cat before. Maybe she just wanted the dosh.

Sorry, rant over! :-)

can anyone tell me legal definition of "public place"???

public property n. property owned by the government or one of its agencies, divisions, or entities. Commonly a reference to parks, playgrounds, streets, sidewalks, schools, libraries and other property regularly used by the general public.

taken from - http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/public%20property

HTH

Sorry, but somebody's got to ask this question:

Why, if you are SUPPORTING hunting - ie the savage killing of one animal by a pack of hungry dogs ("hounds" are not fed for 2 or 3 days before the hunt) - do you care if some kittens are sold to potentially good homes??
The kittens won't be hunted down and slaughtered; they might even be bought by someone who LOVES cats??

skyblue im not going to turn this into a pro or anti thread however i will answer your question. I care about all animals and yes when foxhunting was legal I participated,......I was very involved (still am) with day to day hound management and i can reassure you that hounds were very well fed and always ate night before and in the evening of a hunting day. :)
I also shoot, fish and hunt on a regular basis and i care greatly about my quarry regardless of whether its killed for food (ie the deer we shoot regularly) or as vermin (ie foxes and rabbits etc). Likewise any animals I raise or keep myself get cared for to the very highest standards. I breed quali to feed to my hawk in the closed season....it doesnt mean i dont care about the quail......they have a great out door life and a quick end. Like wise we have cattle here for beef and i care very much about their lives.......despite the fact they will go for slaughter and food. I find your attitude very very strange!!!

hi betty.....thanks for that, although i think public property and public place are two very different things.....afterall a private car is public place according to the DDA!!! :(

Sam

You may find that there are rules in the Trade Stand Application for your particular show.  I found this rule quoted for one agricultural show

**Live animals including goldfish must not be sold or offered as prizes or brought onto any trade stand without prior written agreement with the trade stand secretary**

It might also be covered under a sub-letting clause as the business of 'selling livestock' (presumably for her profit, not the hunt support organisation) is separate to the original application for an 'information' stand.

Finally you could present it to her as a conflict of interest.  Many anti-hunt supporters may be galvanised into action by the sight of kittens in a crate...

Hope this helps

'Any place to which the public have open access is a public place, even if payment must be made to gain entry'.

The question of whether a place to which the public have limited or restricted access is a public place is one of fact and degree in each case. The general test for somewhere which is not a public place is ' whether those gaining access to the area in question have some special characteristic or reason personal to themselves which is not possessed by the public at large' (DPP v Greenwood 1997). Note that a postman/woman (or other similar visitor to a house) only has a licence from a householder to go up the private driveway to the door for the purpose of delivering letters. The vehicle driveway to a private dwelling is not (normally) a public place, even if it is so long that the 'posty' uses his/her van to go up it (but see (viii) below for a hotel)

not sure if this helps clarify public place, the law is open to interpretation.......

>a private car is public place according to the DDA!!! 

That depends where it is. A car on your own property is a private place - a car on the public road is a public place. If the public have legal access (either free or by an admission fee) then I think it's a public place at that time.