VALE and Barry town councillor Ian Johnson has welcomed Wales’ first ever manifesto for Cats.

Launched at the National Assembly for Wales on Tuesday, it aims to put feline welfare on the political agenda ahead of the Welsh Government election in May this year.

Published by the Cats Protection, the charity, who run Wales’ largest cats home, recently opened a new shop in Barry’s Holton Road.

Cllr Johnson, who is also standing as the Plaid candidate for the Vale AM seat later this year, said: “I welcome the new cats manifesto which draws attention to the need for microchipping of cats so that they can be identified if they get lost and the importance of cats and other companion animals for people’s health and well-being.

“Unfortunately the National Assembly doesn’t have all of the powers that Cats Protection would like them to be able to use. For example, one of their suggestions is about control of airguns, where Scotland is introducing legislation but in Wales we can’t do that.”

He added: “Cats Protection and other cat charities, such as Shua, who have a shop in the High Street, do excellent work in animal protection because, sadly, we can’t always trust humans to the do the right thing.”

The launch event saw the unveiling of the 10-point document at a reception hosted by Suzy Davies AM, regional assembly member for South West Wales, and was supported by Petplan.