King Charles Announces Ban On The Live Export Of Animals For Slaughter In The UK In New Legislation

After years of campaigning by many animal welfare organizations, the announcement of a ban on live exports is a significant moment in the history of the animal welfare movement in the United Kingdom.

The Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Bill will prevent the horrendous shipment of calves and other farmed animals for days or even weeks on unsuitable transport vessels that have seen dreadful accidents in the past with thousands of animals dying.

Unweaned calves that were sent from the UK to Spain for fattening suffered from injury, stress, and exhaustion. Global animal welfare organization FOUR PAWS said that it would fortify its efforts to advocate in next year’s EU elections, where a revision of Animal Welfare legislation is more than overdue.

“The last few years have seen too many fatal accidents with farmed animals being transported alive with countless documented infringements against existing legislation that are not prosecuted. The suffering the animals have to endure due to excessive temperatures in cargo, nonexistent veterinary care, and a constant shortage of water and feed is unimaginable,” said Corinna Reinisch, Program Lead Farm Animal Welfare at FOUR PAWS.

“Therefore, this milestone announcement in the UK shines a light on the upcoming proposals for transport that the European Commission has announced for December of this year. Eventually, the EU Parliament and the Council of the EU have to take those proposals, which raise the significance of live animal transport forward in the upcoming EU elections in 2024,” continued Reinisch. “This strong signal shall be the door opener for an urgently needed improvement for billions of farmed animals that are transported outside the EU to third countries every year. FOUR PAWS keeps advocating for animal welfare worldwide.”

Every year, millions of cows, pigs, birds, and sheep are exported from the EU to non-EU countries. This year alone, there have been several fatal accidents with animals being transported. After a three-month ordeal through the Mediterranean Sea, around 1,600 young bulls were killed in Spain after the transport ship Elbeik was not allowed to enter the Middle East due to feared bluetongue cases among the bulls on board. Almost 900 young bulls from the transport vessel Karim Allah experienced the same fate some weeks earlier, and only recently, 14 sheep died after the Phoenix III was stuck off the Italian coast due to bad weather conditions.