News

Animal Welfare Committee assessment of the risks to animal welfare occurring as a result of COVID-19 controls; immediate and medium to longer term impacts.

...follow the link to read the report at GOV.UK...

Plans unveiled to ban the keeping of primates as pets with eight-week consultation launched today.

The government has today (12 December) launched proposals to ban keeping primates as pets in England, inviting the public to have their say on the issue over the next eight weeks.

...follow the link to read the article in full at GOV.UK...

Wales follows Scotland and England in banning the use of wild animals in travelling circuses.

...follow the link to read the article in full at BVA...

BVA has welcomed the launch of an eight week public consultation on the government’s manifesto commitment to ban keeping primates such as capuchins, lemurs and squirrel monkeys as pets.

...follow the link to read the article in full at BVA...

BVA has welcomed today’s (Thursday 3rd December) announcement that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) will begin an eight-week long consultation in England and Wales seeking views on live animals export and how to better protect animal welfare during transport.

...follow the link to read the article in full at BVA...

The European Commission has received the "End the Cage Age" citizens' initiative, moving it closer to implementation.

Věra Jourová, Vice-President for Values and Transparency, and Stella Kyriakides, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, are meeting the organisers of the European Citizens' Initiative "End the Cage Age", after they collected and submitted to the Commission close to 1.4 million signatures.

...click on the link to read the article in full on the Dairy Site...

ESFA research has identified multiple welfare hazards for cattle at slaughter - most stemming from abattoir staff fatigue.

Research from the European Food Safety Agency has assessed the welfare of cattle at slaughter and issued an updated opinion. 

...click on the link to read the article in full on the Dairy Site...

We have welcomed recommendations set out by the Scottish Government’s Fireworks Review Group yesterday as a positive step for animal health and welfare in Scotland.

The Group’s report, presented in a statement to the Scottish Parliament ahead of Bonfire Night, acknowledges the need for a ‘fundamental shift’ in how fireworks are accessed and used in Scotland...

...follow the link to read the article in full at BVA...

International Trade Secretary Liz Truss is today extending the Trade and Agriculture Commission (TAC), and placing it on a full statutory footing, giving farmers a stronger voice in UK trade policy.

The Commission was initially launched for a six-month period in July to bring together voices from across the sector and report back to inform top-level trade policy and negotiations.

Since then it has heard from dozens of experts on farming, animal welfare, the environment and trade, called for evidence from hundreds of key voices across the industry, as well as engaging local farmers, producers, businesses and MPs across the UK through a series of virtual regional roadshows.

...click on the link to read the article in full at GOV.UK

New Zealand announces new requirements for the safe transport of livestock after a cattle ship capsized in the East China sea this summer, killing thousands of cows and most of the ship’s crew.

Reuters reports that only two of the 43 members and more than 6,000 cattle on the Gulf Carrier 1, which was heading from New Zealand to China, survived. The disaster prompted authorities to suspend live cattle exports and launch a review.

The suspension expires on 23 October, but a conditional ban is in place until 30 November, during which time New Zealand's Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) can livestock exports by sea subject to the new conditions.

...click on the link to read the article in full at The Dairy Site...