Delight as dwell export for slaughter is banned – however loophole considerations

Exporting horses for slaughter from Britain has been banned in a “defining second” for animal welfare.

The Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Invoice handed its third and last studying within the Home of Lords on 14 Might and was granted royal assent on Monday (20 Might), which means that it’s now legislation. However worries have been aired over a doable loophole.

World Horse Welfare chief government Roly Owers mentioned the legislation “ensures that no horse, pony or donkey will legally be exported from Nice Britain for slaughter and whereas this can be a monumental step ahead, loads extra must be achieved to successfully fight the unlawful export of equines from the nation”.

“This may depend on the brand new legislation being successfully enforced and the introduction of full traceability of all equines, and we sit up for working with Defra to attain this,” mentioned Mr Owers.

Banning the dwell export of horses for slaughter was a founding objective of World Horse Welfare, which was shaped in 1927 by Ada Cole after she stood on the docks of Antwerp and witnessed the merciless therapy of British work horses being unloaded and brought to slaughter.

The RSPCA has additionally been campaigning on the difficulty for greater than 50 years.

“This implies British animals will not be despatched on gruelling journeys overseas for additional fattening and slaughter in cramped and poor situations with little or no entry to meals or water,” mentioned RSPCA chief government Chris Sherwood.

“As one of many first nations on the planet to abolish this follow, this very important step for animal welfare sends an necessary message globally and we hope to see different nations comply with go well with quickly.”

Though the brand new act has been broadly welcomed, considerations have been raised throughout its last studying within the Home of Lords (14 Might) over a possible loophole.

Baroness Hoey mentioned that though she is “very a lot in favour of this invoice”, she can also be involved that “there isn’t any assure that animals from Northern Eire, that are underneath no restriction, won’t be moved to the Republic of Eire after which onwards”.

“But we’re saying that that is great, that we’ve got modified issues and that leaving the European Union has allowed us to ban dwell exports,” she mentioned.

Lord Douglas Miller, Defra parliamentary under-secretary of state, mentioned he’s “acutely conscious that there are some challenges in sure locations” however that it’s “most likely past my remit to handle these points”.

“I’ve tried extraordinarily exhausting by means of each particular person engagement and the debates that we’ve got had as much as this stage to place the invoice within the place that I feel all of us need it to conclude on, which is one the place it can cross,” he mentioned.

“Due to this fact, I really feel unhappy that I can’t fulfill all people on this house, however I genuinely imagine that we are able to collectively be pleased with this invoice, and it does precisely the appropriate factor at this second in time.”

On 14 Might, Mr Owers once more burdened that whereas the passage of this legislation “is a monumental step ahead, loads extra must be achieved to successfully fight the unlawful export of equines.”

He added that this can “depend on the brand new legislation being successfully enforced and the introduction of full traceability of all equines”.

“Within the twenty first century it’s preposterous that equine ID continues to be primarily based on a paper system, which merely offers an open door for horse smugglers,” he mentioned.

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H&H senior information author

Lucy is an skilled information journalist, reporter and presenter. Since becoming a member of the Horse & Hound group in 2015, Lucy has reported from main world sporting occasions together with the Tokyo Paralympic Video games and a number of European Championships, in addition to Badminton, Burghley and London, to call just a few. She has coated present affairs and sports activities information throughout the complete spectrum of equestrian disciplines and racing, in addition to human and equine welfare, business information and courtroom instances.