London/Vienna, 10 November 2023 – After years of campaigning from many animal welfare organisations, 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 shipments 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.

Journeys of unweaned calves from the UK to Spain for fattening were found to last on average 60 hours and often even longer. During this time the animals suffer from injury, stress and exhaustion. Global animal welfare organisation FOUR PAWS fortifies its efforts to advocate in next year’s EU elections, where a revision of the Animal Welfare legislation is more than overdue.

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

Background

Live animal transport causes immense animal suffering, which has been documented by animal welfare organisations and journalists for decades. In 2020, the European Commission decided, as part of the Green Deal, to revise the current animal welfare legislation, including the EU Regulation 1/2005 on the protection of animals during transport. A draft is to be presented in December this year. 

EU is the world’s biggest live animal exporter 

In 2019, a total of over 220 billion bovines, pigs, poultry, and ovines were 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 had been emergency 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 being stuck off the Italian coast due to bad weather conditions.