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>>> www.politicalanimal.org.uk
IMPROVING THE
Welfare and protection of animals
Ten issues for action by the next UK Government:
a guide for political
party manifestos
2 Ten issues for action
3 Ten issues for action
Contents
Introduction 4
Harnessing consumer power: a stronger and fairer society
Establish mandatory labelling on method of production of chickens; mandatory country of origin labelling showing where the animal has been reared and slaughtered; mandatory labelling on the slaughter methods for animals.
5
Review the Government Buying standards (GBS). 6
Incentivise improvements to slaughter and live transport by establishing mandatory CCTV in slaughterhouses and reducing long-distance transport of animals.
6
Link the funding for the Research Councils to a target for funding the development of humane alternatives to animal experiments, and end the use of animals in scientific procedures involving severe suffering.
7
The rights and responsibilities of individuals and the state
The government should introduce standards to improve breeding conditions for animals.
7
Updating the legislation on selling animals. 8
Ensuring statutory enforcement of animal legislation at a local level.
8
Commit to having a sustainable and science-led approach to bovine TB control.
9
The use of wild animals in circuses. 9
Hunting ban on wild animals. 9
Some key animal welfare facts 10
4 Ten issues for action
Improving animal welfare and how we view animals is an integral part of a civilised society. The world’s first animal protection law was enacted in England in 1822, shortly followed by the establishment of the world’s first animal protection organisation – now the RSPCA – in 1824.
Introduction
Society and technology have changed significantly since
then, with global changes in information sharing and in
technological changes that have added new challenges to
old issues such as dog fighting and animal transport, which
have been issues of concern since 1824. For instance, the
internet has taken over from pet shops as the most
important sales outlet for dogs and cats, and genetically
modified animals now represent around half of all the
animals used in scientific procedures.
The issue of animal welfare, and how animals are treated,
continues to be fundamentally important to the general
public in the UK. Animal welfare generates the largest
post bags to Members of the European Parliament and
to MPs; in March 2014 the animal welfare Minister
acknowledged that pressure from the welfare lobby was
“consistent and considerable”1. For example, 62 percent
of the British public felt that animal welfare did not receive
enough importance in the country’s food policy2 and
55 percent would be willing to change shopping patterns
to buy animal welfare friendly products3.
Whilst the UK likes to see itself as being at the forefront of
improving animal welfare, in some areas such as the use of
wild animals in circuses, this claim is looking outdated.
Balanced against this is the erroneous perception that
improving animal welfare standards in the UK will have a
detrimental impact on the UK’s competitiveness or merely
export the relevant industry overseas.
Understanding of animals, their behaviours and their needs
has progressed enormously in the past few decades.
Accurately assessing animal welfare has been better
enabled by basing judgements on ‘welfare outcomes’.
Such assessments are now being embedded into farm
production schemes such as Freedom Food which uses
them on its laying hens, pigs and dairy farms. They also
inform government legislation such as on the welfare of
meat chickens. We are also becoming better at reporting
on animal welfare. The RSPCA produced annual
assessments of the state of animal welfare in the UK from
2005-9, showing that animal welfare had worsened in five
of the 34 indicators measured, and improved in nine
areas over that period4. In 2014, the sole government
report on progress and future work on animal welfare was
produced, on the implementation of the Coalition Pledge
to reduce the use of animals in research5.
There is a growing body of evidence to show the links
between good animal welfare and social well-being.
Evidence from four countries including the UK shows a link
between pet ownership and better human health6, and in
the recent floods the RSPCA rescued over 550 animals
including a number of pets that needed fostering whilst
their owners were relocated. The RSPCA’s Pet Retreat
scheme, which helps victims of domestic abuse escape
their situation by finding foster homes for their pets, has
helped nearly 1,000 families since it was set up in 2002,
and in 2013 received requests for assistance from over 500
families. Finally the RSPCA now has a formal information
sharing exchange with the NSPCC on ‘at risk’ children it
sees when investigating animal cruelty.
Animal welfare is now almost entirely devolved but the
RSPCA recognises the opportunity to achieve a
commitment from the incoming UK Government for
making improvements on non-devolved issues and for
improving the standards in England for those issues that
are devolved. So the RSPCA recognises the hugely positive
opportunity provided to achieve a commitment from the
incoming UK Government for improving standards in
England and making progress in non-devolved areas.
This document outlines some options for moving forward
for the next five years.
5 Ten issues for action
BACKGROUND
The European Commission has proposed the introduction
of country of origin labelling but the exact terms are still to
be agreed. For this to have any meaning it should clearly
set out where the animal has been born, reared and
slaughtered as this would clearly show how far it has been
transported and would support local production, reduce
suffering in long distance transport and give the consumer
clear information on where the animal has been produced.
EU law already mandates labelling for shell eggs.
Introduced in 2004 it not only gave consumers the
information they required on the provenance of their eggs,
it helped develop the market for free-range eggs. In the UK
sales of free-range eggs increased from 22 percent of the
market share in 2001 to 33 percent in 2007 and whilst barn
eggs market share has remained constant, caged eggs’
share had declined to 51 percent by 2013. There was a five
percent increase in market share of free-range eggs in the
four year period after mandatory labelling was introduced
in January 2004 highlighting the effectiveness of a
mandatory labelling scheme. Free-range eggs now
represent over 50 percent of egg sales.
Agreed method of production terms already exist and are
used by retailers to label pigmeat from various higher
welfare pig production systems of pigs and could be used
as the starting point. For meat chickens, EU marketing
standards for poultry meat already define methods of
production for free-range and extensive indoor chickens
only leaving the terms to be agreed for meat from
chickens reared under basic indoor systems.
Under European law relating to the slaughter of animals,
the Commission is obliged to come forward with research
showing consumer understanding and preferences for
labelling on how an animal is slaughtered. This will now
report in the second half of 2014 and any legislative
proposals will be agreed by the incoming Commission.
The RSPCA supports better information to consumers
on how their meat has been slaughtered, in particular
to allow consumers to chose whether to buy meat from
animals who have not been pre-stunned. This is
especially relevant for the government’s buying
policy for prisons and schools where meat from non
pre-stunned animals could be used without the
consumers’ knowledge.
Policy ideas Harnessing consumer power: a stronger and fairer society
Ensuring transparency in the food chain and the right of consumers to understand the origins of the food and other products they are buying.
1. Establish mandatory labelling on method of
production of chickens; mandatory country
of origin labelling showing where the animal
has been reared and slaughtered; mandatory
labelling on the slaughter methods for animals.
WHAT WE WANT
The government to agree that mandatory labelling
on method of production is important and press
the Commission to bring in proposals on this –
starting with chicken labelling. The UK to agree
that mandatory labelling on method of slaughter is
important and to press for proposals on this in
Europe and look at methods to improve
transparency in the UK on this issue.
6 Ten issues for action
BACKGROUND
We believe that the government’s procurement standards
(GBS), which introduced animal welfare provisions for the
first time when they were launched in September 2011,
need to be reviewed and revised. A review is due in
summer 2014 which will look at changes in the standards
to promote British food and products. This is a good
opportunity to revise the GBS on animal welfare. At
present the standards on fish procurement go above UK
minimum by for instance setting targets for use of Marine
Stewardship Council-approved fish or higher
environmental standards but there are no stretching
targets on animal welfare. The GBS use baseline standards
and do not recommend higher welfare standards such as
free-range eggs, use of assurance schemes or meat from
animals who have been pre-stunned.
2. Review the Government Buying
Standards (GBS)
WHAT WE WANT
The government to recommend the use of
effectively placed and utilised mandatory CCTV
in all slaughterhouses and to incentivise
opportunities through the Rural Development
Programmes for increasing sheep and
lamb retention in the UK and so reduce long-
distance transport .
WHAT WE WANT
The government to agree that its procurement
standards need to be improved and to introduce
new standards that promote higher animal welfare
standards particularly on eggs and meat.
BACKGROUND
The majority of abattoirs used by retailers now have CCTV
and the RSPCA welfare standards used by Freedom Food
have mandated 100 percent CCTV coverage in abattoirs
since 2011. However this accounts for less than half the
abattoirs in the UK – the last Food Standards Agency (FSA)
report showed that 38 percent of the 253 red meat
slaughterhouses and 56 percent of the 75 poultry
slaughterhouses surveyed had CCTV.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has recommended use
of CCTV as a monitoring tool as it provides a way of
observing the slaughtermen without them being aware
they are being monitored7. A number of
prosecutions of abattoirs for breach of slaughter
regulations and animal welfare provisions, have highlighted
the need for greater transparency.
3. Incentivise improvements to slaughter and
live transport by establishing mandatory
CCTV in slaughterhouses and reducing long-
distance transport of animals.
Costs of CCTV implementation will vary depending on the
numbers of cameras required. Cameras need to be
positioned to record all activities at every point during the
unloading, lairage, handling, stunning and killing processes
when an animal could be at risk. Cost is reported to range
from £3,000 for the smaller abattoirs to £10,000 for large
abattoirs. Whilst it is recognised that additional costs are
more of an issue for small abattoirs, when the RSPCA
standards were changed to require mandatory CCTV, all
Freedom Food scheme abattoir members remained in the
scheme and installed CCTV.
Whilst the numbers of calves and sheep being transported
to the continent for slaughter has reduced in the past five
years8, there are no plans to review or improve the
legislation at a European level until at least 2016. The calf
trade reduced by some 90 percent over the past seven
years due to incentives being put in place by retailers and
others to rear animals that used to be transported
overseas. The governments in England and Wales have a
real opportunity to offer incentives for the sheep industry
under the rural development plans for England and Wales,
to encourage farmers to retain and rear sheep in the UK
rather than send them abroad.
7 Ten issues for action
4. Link the funding for the Research Councils
to a target for funding the development of
humane alternatives to animal experiments,
and end the use of animals in scientific
procedures involving severe suffering.
BACKGROUND
In January 2014 the government published its delivery
plan on animal experiments9, which was the first time a
government had set out proposed actions to reduce the
use of animals in experiments. The plan details the amount
of funding it provides to the National Centre for the
Replacement, Refinement & Reduction of Animals in
Research (NC3Rs) as one indication of its commitment
towards developing and promoting alternatives. The
RSPCA welcomes this commitment but believes that a
proper target should be set for funding alternatives through
a proportion of the life science budget.
In 2012/3 the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills
(BIS) gave £300 million of funding grants to the four main
research councils (MRC, BBSRC, EPSRC, NERC) for projects
that involve animal use, but in the same year it provided
funding for research into alternatives that totalled just
£8.6 million, of which £7.1 million was given to the NC3Rs10.
Based on these figures, funding for alternatives represents
less than three percent of the total funding provided for
WHAT WE WANT
The government should increase the funding
directed towards developing and promoting
humane alternatives to animal experiments
through the grants given by the Research Councils,
and implement a policy decision not to license the
use of animals in scientific procedures expected to
cause ‘severe’ suffering .
research involving animals (or around 1/35th of the total).
Whilst the funding for the NC3Rs has more than doubled
since 2008/9, total government funding for research into
alternatives has only risen by 17 percent during the same
time period. The RSPCA would like to see more
transparency around this funding figure. The RSPCA also
wants all the major funding bodies to agree a time frame
for committing a significantly higher proportion of their
funding into the development and promotion of humane
alternatives, and to integrate humane approaches into all
life science research using animals.
In 2015 the UK Government will publish the first ever data
showing the actual levels suffering experienced by animals
involved in scientific procedures, including those classified
as ‘severe’. The RSPCA would like to see a clear
commitment to ending the use of animals in procedures
that cause severe suffering over the next five-year term.
8 Ten issues for action
2. Updating the legislation on selling animals.
BACKGROUND
Prospective pet owners can purchase dogs that may have
been illegally imported without the proper documentation
or vaccinations, reptiles without the appropriate care and
housing information and dogs that have been bred in
unlicensed conditions which do not meet the needs of the
animals (see also the point above). A consumer obtains
more information and is better protected when buying
a washing machine than a Burmese python or a
German shepherd dog.
Legislation on sales of animals is 63 years old (Pet Animals
Act 1951) and has failed to keep up with technological
changes. It is estimated that over a third of all animal
purchases are through the internet, essentially an
unregulated sales outlet for pets. In 2013 the government
agreed voluntary guidelines for internet websites that sell
animals; the effectiveness of these should be reviewed
and, if not working, be replaced by mandatory standards.
The government should undertake a wholesale review
of the legislation and standards and introduce
regulations that provide better controls over the dealing,
trading and selling of animals.
There are also some species that require very specialised
keeping such as primates. Evidence shows that primates
are easily obtained and somewhere in the region of 3,000-
9,000 may be kept as pets in Great Britain. From the
RSPCA’s experience, as well as that of specialist primate
sanctuaries, welfare problems are widespread and serious.
Regulations should be brought in to prohibit the keeping
and trade of primates pets with the current population
registered and capped – to live out the rest of their lives
with as high a level of welfare as possible.
WHAT WE WANT
The government to bring in regulations that
update and improve the controls over the selling of
animals and to specifically prohibit the keeping
and trade of primates as pets with the current
population registered and capped – to live out the
rest of their lives with as high a level of welfare
as possible.
The rights and responsibilities of individuals and the state
Ensuring citizens and the state are clear about their rights and responsibilities when ensuring animal welfare.
1. The government should introduce standards
to improve breeding conditions for animals.
BACKGROUND
Although any prospective pet owner has a responsibility to
know what their animal’s welfare needs are, it is clear that
animals are being sold whose health and welfare is not
being protected. Dogs are being bred under standards that
are over 40 years old and legislation on sales outlets only
covers pet shops despite the fact that few are now sold
through pet shops and more are sold through the internet.
The government has failed to update any of the pet
legislation that was planned under the Animal Welfare
Act 2006, including changes to the Breeding of Dogs Act
1973. Wales is in the process of introducing proposals to
improve the licensing of dog breeding, in particular by
reducing the number of litters a bitch can have before the
breeder must be licensed, defining specific standards that
any licensed breeding premises should operate under and
making a specific staff/animal ratio mandatory to ensure
welfare and safety standards are maintained. England
should follow by agreeing secondary legislation under
the Animal Welfare Act to update and improve the dog
breeding standards.
WHAT WE WANT
The government to update the dog breeding
legislation to include better licensing conditions
and standards for dogs being bred.
9 Ten issues for action
3. Ensuring statutory enforcement of animal
legislation at a local level.
BACKGROUND
There are very few laws that provide statutory
requirements for local authorities to enforce. Examples
of these include dealing with stray dogs and licensing of
certain animal-related activities, such as pet shops,
breeding establishments and boarding establishments.
The majority of legislation concerning animals does not
require any particular agency to enforce it and it can be
enforced by local authorities, the police and the RSPCA –
for example, the Animal Welfare Act 2006. Because
different agencies can lead on investigations this results in
differences in standards and levels of service in different
areas of the country which is not helpful to the public or
for protecting animal welfare.
There have been numerous cut backs in budgets within
local authorities and the police leaving increasingly smaller
resources to tackle such issues – this is particularly
noticeable with stray dogs and it is increasingly becoming
a ‘postcode lottery’ as to whether some local authorities
provide such a service (despite it being statutory).
Resources and knowledge are needed if animal welfare
is to be protected and a mechanism for funding the public
sector in this area needs to be established. The Antisocial
Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 is designed to
improve dog and horse control but has no budget and
offers little practical guidance on how to use it.
WHAT WE WANT
Clear guidance from the government to local
authorities on how to enforce the Anti social
Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 to enforce
standards on horse passports and fly grazing and
amended legislation to make it easier for local
authorities to remove horses being fly grazed.
Clear guidance needs to be provided to local
authorities on how to implement the legislation
on stray dogs and the Animal Welfare Act .
A good example of where the system is failing animal
welfare is the current horse crisis. Over the past five years,
the RSPCA has received 67 percent more calls on horses
and rescued 149 percent more. This is due to a number of
factors including too many horses being fly grazed and
the lack of enforcement of the horse identification
legislation. We estimate that 70 percent of horses coming
into our care are not microchipped and so their
owners could be avoiding the legislation.
The lack of an effective passport system led directly to the
horse meat scandal in 2013 as horses were going into the
food chain that had been identified as not fit for human
consumption. Some 5,300 horse are being fly grazed in
the UK and 6,500 horses are at risk of animal welfare
problems. Wales changed their law on fly grazing in 2014
to make it easier for local authorities to remove horses
being fly grazed 11 England needs to follow.
10 Ten issues for action
5. The use of wild animals in circuses.
BACKGROUND
In the past five years when the government has been
considering a ban on wild animals in circuses, seven
countries including Costa Rica, Greece and Paraguay have
passed laws to ban their use in circuses. Whilst there are
only two circuses in England and Wales that use wild
animals and 25 wild animals left in them, the failure of
successive governments to address this issue risks the UK
losing its reputation as a leader on animal welfare. Seven
EU countries as well as many outside Europe (including
Colombia, Israel, Peru and Singapore) have all successfully
adopted bans. There is good scientific evidence that shows
the welfare of wild animals can be compromised by the
transport and living conditions in travelling circuses. The
government agreed a draft Bill in 2013 which has been
through pre-legislative scrutiny, but it ran out of time to
introduce the Bill in 2014 as it did in 2010 .
WHAT WE WANT
The government to bring in a ban on the use of
wild animals in circuses.
6. Hunting ban on wild animals.
BACKGROUND
The Hunting Act 2004 has now been in force for nine years
and prosecutions taken during this time show that it is
enforceable and proportionate in protecting wildlife in
England and Wales. It is important that the Act is not
overturned or amended to allow more dogs to be used
and enforcement is improved at all hunt meets.
WHAT WE WANT
The government to maintain the prohibition on
hunting wild mammals with dogs.
4. Commit to having a sustainable and science-
led approach to bovine TB control.
BACKGROUND
InJuly 2013 the UK government published its 25-year
strategy on bovine TB which divided the country into three
geographical areas: High risk, Edge areas and Low risk. The
proposal to agree and license any new culls of badgers in
the High risk zone in up to ten new areas a year was to be
determined by the successful conclusion of two pilot culls in
Somerset and Gloucestershire. These culls had originally
been announced in December 2011 and the measures of
'success' would be judged against the effectiveness of
removing target percentages of badgers, the safety of the
cull and humaneness of the shooting methods.
Even after reductions in target badger numbers and
extended pilot culling periods, the culling companies failed
to achieve the 70 percent target reduction in badger
populations – in Somerset it reached under 50 percent and
in Gloucester less than 39 percent. Expert scientific opinion
strongly suggests this is likely to result in widespread
perturbation of badger populations, increasing the
prevalence of infection among remaining badgers and
therefore increasing the risk to cattle. The culls also failed
the humaneness test with up to 18 percent of culled
badgers taking longer than five minutes to die12.
However the government, whilst it has dropped plans to
licence further culls, has pressed ahead with the second
year of badger culling in Gloucestershire and Somerset
due to start in summer 2014.
WHAT WE WANT
The government to suspend the cull of badgers
and invest in badger vaccination in high risk TB
areas as well as edge areas. Additional funding
should also be available for licensing a cattle
vaccine and further improvements to cattle
movement restrictions and biosecurity measures.
11 Ten issues for action
Some key animal welfare facts The challenge is to convert the British aspiration for improving animal welfare into reality, whether that is food or product purchasing, understanding the needs of their pet animals or wanting to live in a society that is has accepted levels of behaviour towards animals.
Free-range egg sales now represent around
50 percent of shell egg sales in the UK.
Polling in 2012 showed that 83 percent of UK
consumers want method of production
labelling, which clearly identifies the farming
system used to produce the food, extended to
meat and dairy products13.
The number of horses collected by RSPCA
inspectors has increased by 149 percent over
the past five years – inspectors have to rescue
an average of three horses daily. The numbers
of convictions for animal cruelty to horses has
increased by 176 percent in the past five years.
The numbers of animals being used in
procedures has increased steadily since 2001
and is now 4.11 million animals, 48 percent of
which are genetically modified; the numbers
of genetically modified animals used rose by
22 percent on 2011.
Annual UK government food contracts for
procurement total £2 billion.
Nineteen percent of people that bought a
puppy no longer have the dog within two years
of purchase.
There was a 73 percent increase in calls to the
RSPCA about pet primates between 2012
and 2013.
The numbers of cats entering the top five cat
rescue organisations increased by five percent
between 2010-12. Most rescue organisations
have no further capacity. The RSPCA now
holds 40 percent of its cats in private boarding
as there is no room in its centres, increasing
costs – this is due to people not neutering their
animals and not understanding the needs of
the cats when getting them.
75 percent of cats are acquired as kittens,
mainly from friends and family; 50 percent
of those that get their kittens spontaneously
are likely not to neuter their cat; the value of
the neutering industry is estimated to be
£45 million.
There was a rise of 86 percent in the numbers
of dogs imported to the UK under the Pet
Travel Scheme in the two years after border
and quarantine controls were eased in 2012;
from some countries such as Hungary,
Lithuania, and Romania imports rose by four,
five, and 11 times. It is thought many of these
would have been imported illegally.
In 2013 numbers of animals under Freedom
Food RSPCA standards represented over
30 percent of the British pig herd, over 50
percent of the laying hen flock and around
15 percent of the turkey flock.
FOOTNOTES
1. Hansard, 4 March 2014, col 1214
2. European Commission, 2005. Eurobarometer – Attitudes of consumers towards the welfare of farmed animals Q12.
3. European Commission, 2007. Attitudes of EU citizens to animal welfare.
4. RSPCA 2010 The welfare state – five years of measuring animal welfare 2005-9.
5. Home Office, BIS, Department of Health, 2014. Working to reduce the use of animals in research.
6. eg Ottney Cain A 1991. Pets and the family holistic nursing practice 5 (2) 58-63.
7. Food Standards Agency 22.5.2012. Results of the 2011 survey in Great Britain 12/05/08.
8. RSPCA 2013. The modern solution to the exports of calves: working in black and white.
9. HO, BIS, DoH 2014. Working to reduce the use of animals in scientific research.
10. Hansard, 11 March 2014, col 167.
11. Control of Horses (Wales) Act 2014.
12. Independent Expert Panel (2014) Report on pilot culls in Somerset and Gloucestershire.
13. Qa Research 2012.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Wilberforce Way, Southwater, Horsham, West Sussex RH13 9RS www.rspca.org.uk facebook.com/RSPCA twitter.com/RSPCA_official The RSPCA helps animals in England and Wales. Registered charity no: 219099
The RSPCA only exists with the support of public donations
Promoted by D. Bowles on behalf of the RSPCA, Wilberforce Way, Southwater, Horsham, West Sussex RH13 9RS
Photos: Front/back cover Andrew Forsyth, Joe Murphy/RSPCA Photolibrary
Inside: Joe Murphy x 5, Andrew Forsyth x 5, David Bowles/RSPCA Photolibrary
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