Great news this week as the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has announced that animals exported for slaughter and fattening will be banned as early as January 2022. This follows a 12-week consultation that took place earlier this year. Added the Animal Justice Project to the consultation, along with other animal rights and welfare groups. More than 11,000 replies have been added to the consultation!
The ban does not cover all exports, but only applies to animals that are being fattened and slaughtered. Those sent for breeding can still be exported, although there will be stricter regulations on temperature, space, wind speed and more. Animals such as chickens, pheasants and ducks likely won’t be affected by the ban, though again, stricter regulations will be in place for their transport, including shorter stroke length.
This will have a huge impact on our domestic market, as by 2019 thousands of young calves have been exported from the UK for fattening. Thousands of sheep are still being exported for slaughter and fortunately, this too will come to an end. This is a big win for the animals!
After this ban, we must continue to fight to end all animal exports and their exploitation.
Image source: Sammantha Fisher, Instagram: @sfisherx
As always,
For animals.
