RECENTLY the Vale of Glamorgan Council hosted an Animal Welfare Seminar at the Civic Offices to discuss putting an end to animal cruelty and wildlife crime.

The event was chaired by myself and discussed many issues surrounding animal welfare, including fly grazing and the illegal trade of endangered species.

I would like to thank our excellent panel of speakers which included Mark Goulding, Police Wildlife Crime Officer, and Chris O’Brien of the RSPCA, as well as the Vale of Glamorgan council’s principal trading standards officer Christina Roberts-Kinsey.

It was fantastic to see such a good turn out to the seminar, and it just goes to show how important these issues are to people in the Vale. It was also a perfect opportunity to discuss the Vale of Glamorgan council’s recently adopted “Animal Welfare Charter” which places the council as a leader in protecting animals in the wild, in the home and on farms.

I find it shocking that in perhaps just 10 years there may be no more rhino’s left in the wild because of the illegal trade in their body parts. The legal sales of ivory stockpiles in recent years have stimulated greater demand, and the trade cannot be disentangled from an illegal market with corruption escalating at every stage in the supply chain.

As I’ve said before, cruelty to animals is wrong, just as cruelty to humans is wrong, and we need to make sure that we are doing everything we can to see that we put a stop to animal cruelty for good.

Cllr Rob Curtis

Vale of Glamorgan Bio-diversity Champion