Animals given more legal rights under UK law to recognise they have feelings
Animals will be recognised as sentient beings with the capacity to have feelings such as pleasure, pain and fear, as part of new laws being considered for the UK.
Training collars that electrocute dogs will be banned and glue traps designed to capture wild birds will be restricted in the coming months.
A series of new bills have been proposed in the UK to strengthen the country’s existing animal welfare legislation.
It will enshrine in law that animals are aware of what is happening to them. This will only apply to vertebrates, not to cephalopods such as octopus and squid.
The Government is setting out an action plan to help domesticated and wild creatures in the UK and overseas.
Exports of live animals for slaughter will be banned as well as the keeping of monkeys and other primates as pets.
Compulsory microchipping for cats will also be introduced along with a crack down on hare coursing, a bloodsport where dogs such as greyhounds chase hares through fields by sight.
Many of the new laws are needed after Brexit and some go further than previous EU legislation.
Launching the plan, Environment Secretary George Eustice said: ‘We are a nation of animal lovers and were the first country in the world to pass animal welfare laws.
‘Our action plan for animal welfare will deliver on our manifesto commitment to ban the export of live animal exports for slaughter and fattening, prohibit keeping primates as pets and bring in new laws to tackle puppy smuggling.
‘We will lead on the protection of animals abroad by implementing the world’s toughest ivory ban and banning the import of hunting trophies to protect iconic species.’
The plan is a mixture of new measures, confirmation of manifesto commitments and moves that have been consulted on and will now be introduced, or ones that have been previously attempted.
The Government’s action plan for animal welfare also includes stopping ads in the UK for things such as elephant rides abroad and exploring a ban on foie gras.
Campaigners have broadly welcomed the proposals but say they are waiting to see more detail.
Claire Bass, executive director of Humane Society International/UK, said: ‘Britain prides itself as a nation of animal lovers and animals suffering both here and overseas for food, fur, entertainment, the pet trade and more deserve this proactive agenda.
‘Delivering on the plan will require understanding and real commitment from across Whitehall.
‘Respect for animal welfare is not only the right thing to do for animals, it will also play a critical role in tackling global environmental and public health challenges such as climate change, antibiotic resistance and pandemic prevention.’
The new laws include plans to ban the import and export of shark fins in the UK, marking a victory for marine conservation campaigners after a long campaign.
New measures are being brought in to close a loophole that had allowed travellers to carry up to 20kg of dried shark fins – used in the Chinese delicacy shark fin soup – into and out of the country.
Campaigners say the new law will help stamp out the practice of shark fin fishing, which involves fishermen cutting off the fins of sharks they catch and throwing the rest of the animal overboard to die.
Up to 73 million sharks are hunted every year globally and one in four shark species are endangered or threatened.
Wildlife TV presenter Steve Backshall MBE and chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall had both campaigned for a shark fin ban as part of Bite-Back Shark & Marine Conservation’s No Fin To Declare campaign.
The UK is in the top 20 shark fishing nations in the world alongside Spain, France and Portugal. For years, the UK has exported around 25 tonnes of shark fins to Spain for processing and onward sale to the Far East.
The practice has pushed iconic shark species including great whites, hammerheads, oceanic whitetips and threshers to the brink of extinction, with only a tiny fraction left in the wild.
The new legislation will require all imported and exported shark fins to remain attached to the shark carcass and only traded as a whole commodity.
Mr Backshall, a patron of Bite-Back said: ‘Today’s news is a fantastic outcome for shark conservation and the culmination of years of campaigning from Bite-Back.
‘The government’s decision to effectively ban the trade in shark fins will be significant in helping to restore the balance of the oceans.
‘At the same time it sends a clear message to the world that shark fin soup belongs in the history books and not on the menu.’
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