DEFRA are not qualified to govern any industry.
With DEFRA running this sector, if they aren't stopped there'll only be unlicensed businesses left to rule over.
If DEFRA was in charge of corner stores, they'd be requiring a BA in astrophysics, when what we need is mandatory drug tests for government employees, a public enquiry into institutional incompetence and actual consequences for anyone floating another acid-induced hare-brained scheme for our industry.
Cattery and kennels magazine just ran an article on retirement claiming that any buyer would need to have a level 3 animal management qualification to buy an existing cattery.
This is a totally insane stipulation because if people are retiring due to ilness, any delay and the value of the business would be nil. And if the owners were selling up due to exhaustion, people will shut down rather than wait a year for a potential buyer to pass an exam.
Practicalities?
- So if you don’t get the qualification before you buy does the seller have to inform the mortgage company to refuse the sale?
- Or if you buy the cattery and then fail the exam, does DEFRA cancel the contract and the property and business reverts to the original owner?
- Or does the local authority step in and close the cattery down until the qualification can be obtained and fuck all the customers who already made forward bookings?
We’ve had three people work here with a level 3 animal management qualification, and despite the training were not suitable for the responsibilities of cattery work.
- These were people who are persuaded to take this path as an alternative to academic pursuits and are told that a two year BTEC is the equivalent of taking three A-levels!
- They were sold a career working with small animals when those opportunities are rarer than rocking horse manure and the only animals they got to work with on the courses were guineapigs and birds.
- Virtually none of these kids willl achieve their dream because they'll never be in a position to earn enough money to buy a home and on cattery wages will never be able to afford a one room rented bed-sit.
And there's a better alternative to more hare-brained rules and regulations:
- I want to see more people entering this sector than are leaving.
- I want people who love cats more than people running every cattery.
- I want people in this sector to want to help newer businesses with advice.
- I want people who have left this sector to keep in touch, share their experiences and take over inspections from local authorities.