Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation Spring Newsletter

On 9th January we welcomed a Westminster Hall Debate led by Conservative MP Nick Fletcher relating to the petition titled: ‘Make the use of free-running snares illegal for trapping wildlife’ which received over 102,000 signatures from the UK public.

It is estimated that 1.7 million animals are caught in snares in England and Wales alone each year, and there are only four countries in the EU where snaring is still permitted.

MPs from across the political spectrum contributed to the debate, including Tracey Crouch, Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation Patron. She highlighted the strong public support which exists for ending the use of snares in the UK, and the indiscriminate nature of injuries and suffering to the animals caught.

Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation included the proposal to ban snares in its 2019 Animal Welfare Manifesto sent to the Government for consideration in its Conservative Manifesto. Defra’s Action Plan for Animal Welfare also committed to launching a Call for Evidence on the use of snares.

On 16th January we welcomed another Westminster Hall Debate led by Conservative MP Elliot Colburn relating to a public petition on ending commercial breeding for laboratories, which received over 102,000 signatures from the UK public.

The petition called for all establishment licences for commercial breeders of animals to be revoked. It also called for amendments to the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA). In 2021, over 3 million scientific procedures were conducted on animals; this represented a 6% increase on the year before. The use of dogs increased by 3%, cats by 6%, horses by 29% and monkeys by 17%.

MPs who contributed to the debate included Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation Patron Henry Smith MP, who described animal experimentation as “bad science” which is “hindering the development of treatments that benefit humankind”. A number of other MPs also supported the petition, including SNP MP Dr Lisa Cameron and Labour MP Kerry McCarthy.

Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation welcomed new legislation by Defra on 13th March to introduce compulsory cat microchipping in England. Defra’s official announcement highlighted that the Call for Evidence and Consultation on the issue showed 99% of respondents expressed support for the measure.

The introduction of compulsory cat microchipping was a Manifesto commitment and an Action Plan for Animal Welfare pledge.

Co-Founder of Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation Lorraine Platt said: “We are pleased that a key Manifesto commitment is being delivered. Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation included a proposal for compulsory microchipping of cats in our Animal Welfare Manifesto document in 2019 which was handed to No.10. The proposal was included as a Manifesto commitment later that year in the Conservative Party Manifesto leading up to the 2019 General Election.

“Microchipping is an effective way of identifying lost pets who are more likely to be reunited with their owner. Pet cats in England will be given the same protection as dogs.”

Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation Patron Henry Smith MP’s Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill passed its Remaining Stages in the House of Commons on 17th March, having passed its Committee Stage earlier this year. The Bill is now in the House of Lords to complete its passage to becoming law.

The commitment to ban trophy hunting imports was included in both the Conservative Manifesto 2019, and also Defra’s world-leading Action Plan for Animal Welfare published in 2021.

Last year several MPs alongside British explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes spoke out against trophy hunting imports at Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation’s World Animal Day reception in memory of late Patron Sir David Amess, hosted at Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham by Jane Stevenson MP.

Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation Patron Sir Roger Gale MP also Chairs the APPG on Banning Trophy Hunting, which has been campaigning for a ban on hunting trophy imports for many years.

Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation welcomed Conservative MP Angela Richardson’s Animals (Low Welfare Activities Abroad) Bill passing its final stages in the House of Commons on 17th March. This followed its previous stages in 2022 and earlier this year, which saw support across parties.

Many animal tourist attractions abroad involve poor animal welfare practices. Captured elephants abroad are often young and forced to endure long, painful beatings, while being deprived of water, food, and sleep. This process, designed to ‘domesticate’ the elephant, ensures submission for tourist activities.

The Government committed to taking action to end the UK’s role in advertising and selling such tourist activities. Defra’s Action Plan for Animal Welfare published in 2021 said: “Animals such as Asian elephants may be subjected to cruel and brutal training practices to ensure their obedience. We will legislate to ban the advertising and offering for sale here of specific, unacceptable practices abroad.”

On 20th March Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation (CAWF), The Humane League UK, Compassion in World Farming (CIWF), RSPCA and Soil Association organised the first ever parliamentary reception to highlight a lack of legal protection for farmed fish at the time of their slaughter in the UK. 

The reception, hosted by Crossbench Peer Lord Trees, raised the plight of the 55 million fish farmed annually in the UK – including 12 million trout in England – which do not receive the same legal protections at the time of slaughter as other terrestrial farmed animals. This is despite the scientific and legal recognition that fish are sentient, as set out in the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022.

The coalition organising the reception, including CAWF, are calling on the Government as well as devolved administrations to introduce regulations that afford farmed fish equivalent legal protection to terrestrial farmed animals at the time of killing. Lord Trees called for an end to these disparities in a piece in Politics Home.

Speakers included host Lord Trees, Shadow Defra Minister Daniel Zeichner MP, RSPCA Senior Scientific Officer Sean Black and Ronnie Soutar, Head of Veterinary Services at Scottish Sea Farms.