Queen's Speech December 2019 - Animal welfare legislation

Animal welfare legislation

The purpose of the legislation is to:

• ●  Increase protections for animals and further improve the welfare of animals in our homes, in agriculture and in the wild.

• ●  Deliver on the Government’s manifesto commitments to:

  • ○  Introduce new laws on animal sentience

  • ○  Introduce tougher sentences for animal cruelty

    The main benefits of the legislation would be:

• ●  Enhancing our reputation as a world leader on animal welfare and protection.

• ●  Recognising explicitly in domestic law that animals are sentient beings.

• ●  To improve the welfare of live animals, once we leave the EU, by ending excessively long journeys of animals going for slaughter or fattening.

• ●  Increasing the sentences for those who perpetrate cruelty on animals and ensuring they are subjected to the full force of the law.

  The main elements of the legislation are:

  • ●  A clear statement in domestic law that animals are sentient beings, and a duty on Government to have all due regard to the welfare of sentient animals in policy formulation and implementation.

  • ●  Extending the current maximum penalty for animal cruelty offences, specified under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, from six months imprisonment to five years imprisonment.

  • ●  Measures to deliver on commitments to end excessively long journeys for slaughter and fattening, on primates as pets, cat microchipping, and on the import of trophies from hunting of endangered animals.

    Territorial extent and application

● The legislation’s provisions would extend and apply to England. Animal welfare is devolved to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Provisions on animal sentencing would extend and apply to Wales.

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Key facts

• ●  The Government has a strong record on animal welfare and protection of animals, including:

  • ○  Introducing mandatory CCTV in slaughterhouses, so consumers know high welfare standards are being upheld.

  • ○  Banning the use of wild animals in travelling circuses.

  • ○  Introducing the world’s toughest bans on ivory sales to help stop the poaching of elephants.

  • ○  Banning commercial third party sales of puppies and kittens in England, to end the terrible welfare conditions found in puppy farming.

• ●  Placing a clear duty on Ministers of the Crown to consider the welfare of sentient animals goes beyond EU law.

• ●  Available scientific evidence indicates that all forms of transport are considered stressful for animals. Last year, the Government issued a call for evidence on welfare in transport standards, commissioning external research and inviting the Farm Animal Welfare Committee to conduct a review and make recommendations. This has formed the basis of the consultation that will be launched on ending excessively long journeys for slaughter or fattening.

• ●  Our measures on sentencing will cover heinous offences such as causing unnecessary suffering, poisoning or mutilating an animal, and dog fighting.

• ●  There are clear ethical concerns around the practice of trophy hunting of endangered species. A consultation and call for evidence on further restrictions on the import and export of hunting trophies into and from the UK was published on 2 November, and is due to close at the end of January. This will provide necessary evidence and information to inform next steps.

• ●  About 65 per cent of cats are already microchipped. In 2013, the coalition government introduced compulsory chipping for dogs. At this time around 58 per cent of dogs were chipped, now around 90 per cent of dogs are microchipped (8 million dogs).