Although this legislation is still being thought out and will still need to go through the lengthy process of being debated in parliament, we can rest assured that we did everything we could to feed into its development.  

At FOUR PAWS, its critical to us that we help decision makers shape any new animal-based legislation to ensure that it is as effective as it can be, and ultimately prevents the unnecessary suffering or death of thousands of animals.  

Just this week we submitted our response to the consultation on Live Animal Transport in England, and plan to respond to the similar Scottish consultation later this month.  

FOUR PAWS believes that export journeys for horses and livestock for slaughter and fattening, and also for breeding, are totally unnecessary and should shift to a system of transporting meat, carcasses and genetic material only. 

Live transport of animals does effect animal welfare as result of long-distance travel and poor containment, no matter if the purpose is for slaughter, breeding or fattening. We don’t expect to see a total end to live transport, but for those journeys that do need to continue, we propose that no journey should exceed 8 hours, and the provision of water, feed, rest, space to move and appropriate head room and ventilation is provided throughtout any journey.  A lot of this sounds like basic animal needs, but many of which are not being met today and across Europe as animals are sent to slaughter.  

By bringing in such regulations, we can prevent the immense suffering of thousands of animals, and we hope that when the Government reads our response, they will take those recommendations on board when developing the Live Animal Transport Bill.  

Make sure to keep following our blog for news and updates on the progress of this legislation.