PETA Among Over 30 Animal Rights Groups to Take Action as Vital Animal Welfare Bills May Be Torn Up

Posted by on March 21, 2022 | Permalink

Alarming reports indicate that the government may backtrack on vital animal welfare bills, which would be an outrageous betrayal to both humans and other animals and would mean the UK remains complicit in appalling cruelty.

If this were to happen, we would lose proposed laws banning live-animal export and the import into the UK of fur, foie gras, and hunting trophies from endangered animals as well as other government commitments to protect animals.

PETA, along with over 30 other animal protection groups, has signed a letter to the government calling for the bills to be upheld and reminding it of the promises made in its manifesto and Action Plan for Animal Welfare.

Broken Promises

While the world faces unprecedented challenges, promises to implement vital animal welfare legislation must be upheld and the government must fulfil its commitment to having and promoting the highest standards of animal welfare, as laid out in the 2021 Queen’s Speech.

If the reports are true and these bills are torn up, the government would be betraying the animals it promised to protect as well as the public who overwhelmingly see animal protection as a core value, not “peripheral stuff”, as one minister described it. Some may even have voted for members based on manifesto commitments like banning hunting trophies and live export.

A Nation of Animal Lovers

Allowing organisations and individuals to continue to profit from cruelty to animals would make a mockery of the UK’s claim that we are a nation of animal lovers. The government must keep in mind a sentiment put forth by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, “The way we treat animals reflects our values and the kind of people we are.”

The Animal Welfare Bills Are Vital

By exporting live animals, we sentence them to distressing and dangerous journeys, horrendous conditions in transit, and a death in slaughterhouses overseas that often use practices illegal in the UK. Vile products such as foie gras and fur are derived from abuse so disturbing that it’s illegal to produce them in the UK. Yet our borders are still open to them – a contradiction that gives companies the green light to profit from this cruelty. And lack of legislation around hunting trophies encourages hunters to continue gunning down animals for sick souvenirs.

We must prevent these atrocities – and many others – by implementing the promised animal welfare bills without delay.

Animals Need You: Take Action

Animals desperately need us – we can’t let them down. We must save the bills. Please take action now by telling the government to act on the commitments outlined in its 2019 manifesto and the Action Plan for Animal Welfare by ensuring the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) and Animals Abroad bills are given parliamentary time in this and the next session of Parliament: