A NORTH-EAST animal welfare campaigner has called for an end to indiscriminate breeding of animals.
Peter Maughan, Gateshead borough councillor, chairman of the RSPCA, in Newcastle, and a trustee of the Exotic Animals Welfare Trust, made the appeal during an animal welfare debate at the Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton yesterday.
Speaking with a barn owl on his arm, Coun Maughan said: "There is a huge shortage of barn owls in the wild because they have lost their natural habitat of old-fashioned barns.
"But barn owls are very easy to breed in captivity, so are increasingly being bred for profit.
"Unfortunately, more owls are bred than there is actually demand for as pets.
"Barn owls are easy to tame, but a tame owl bred in captivity is very difficult to release back into the wild.
"This results in many owls ending up with organisations such as the RSPCA and the Exotic Animals Welfare Trust."
Coun Maughan also supported a proposal to reintroduce a dog registration scheme.
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