Animal Rights after the Brexit Repeal Bill

Norfolk shows as having a high number of indoor raised pigs which is strange when so many fields around here are covered in happy outdoor pigs. They have the added advantage of cleaning the ground of weeds and fertilise it naturally so decreasing the need for chemicals. Sheep I can only think that the fact that pigs destined for slaughter spend the last month of their lives indoors on straw in order to decrease the fat levels slews the figures.

There is always room for improvement in animal welfare and we should always be aware, but Britain is ahead of much of the EU and the rest of the world.

You're flogging a dead horse djen

I don’t think there are many farmers who believe that animals are not sentient beings. If for no other reason than a healthy pain free animal produces a good carcass so more profit.

I’ve been in our local slaughter house and know they treat the animals with respect and calmness. It makes their lives easier and keeps the carcass good.

Oh yes, there is plenty of room for improvement and farming intensively certainly needs keeping a close eye on. These establishments are regularly inspected, all need a license to operate and are streets ahead of most EU countries who have a habit of turning a blind eye for fear of upsetting farmers, particularly in France. It would be fantastic to see the end of intensive farming, but if that can't be achieved then the care and well being of these creatures must be paramount and I am certain that no government whatever it's colour would disagree.

You are making yourself look ridiculous now durhamjen
Why not just quit?
And start a thread on vegetarianism if that is what you want to talk about.

from your comments on GN durhamjen anybody would be forgiven for thinking that you hate your own country.
Very odd.

I don’t think it’s about comparing Britain to Europe, is it? It’s about the fact that farming is by its very nature a cruel practice that treats animals as products. Some farming practices are better than others and some farmers may be kinder than others but there’s no getting away from the fact that the end result is a dead animal, or actually thousands of dead animals, killed in their prime.

Some of us find the exploitation of animals wherever it happens in the world abhorrent, some don’t, that’s it really. Looking for countries that are worse than us is just a distraction from what’s happening here at home.

Not a distraction at all.....but the whole point actually, as we are keeping/ amending EU laws.
The eating of meat ( and thus farming) or getting rid of all farmed animals ( eating them?) and then us all living on veggies and whatever is another, and different topic altogether.

The truth is that a few posters go looking for anything they think will show government in a bad light, and are probably disappointed that this latest news item is a load of rubbish.

They’re not separate topics though are they lemongrove? They’re inextricably linked. It’s about double standards, double think, and cognitive dissonance. We can feel a lot more comfortable if we can convince ourselves that we are so much better than our European neighbours and close our eyes to the reality of what happens here

They are different topics nightowl and both yourself and durhamjen are using a distraction ploy yourselves.

We have excellent standards of animal welfare in Britain, which is the subject under discussion, not should we all become vegetarians overnight.

There are areas that should be improved on, even in the UK
And this is that at present there are relaxations to the rules under religious grounds, halal and kosher. I would like allfarmed animals to be stunned first in the UK before being killed.
It’s a whole other discussion though to say (on this thread)
That no farmed animals should be killed.

Who is closing their eyes btw?

I don’t think it’s about comparing Britain to Europe, is it? It’s about the fact that farming is by its very nature a cruel practice that treats animals as products.
No, it's not about that at all, but if you would like to start a thread about that nightowl I am sure it would be of interest to Gransnetters.

I am sure that there is room for improvement; we could be leading the way and showing Europe a better way of treating animals if we were not leaving the EU, but we are. And, being a tolerant nation, we have not insisted on Spain and other EU countries abandoning their cruel practises, some of which are nothing to do with farming methods. Catalonia banned this practice but a Spanish court overturned this ban - the only thing that may stop this is if more humans are killed during a bullfight.

sorry, practices
meaning bullfighting.

or this:
www.facebook.com/AntiDogFightingCampaign/posts/417083658396088

Michael Gove has promised to make “any necessary changes” to UK law to recognise that animals can feel pain, after a social media campaign accused Conservative MPs of voting down proposals to accept they are sentient beings.

The environment secretary issued a statement to the House of Commons insisting that it was a misconception to say Tory MPs voted against the idea that animals are sentient and feel pain.

But he clarified that the government was now looking at making UK law specifically recognise animal sentience, following a row over the issue in the EU withdrawal bill.

That was in the Guardian btw

Packham is making an independent film about Malta’s spring hunt in which thousands of migrating birds are shot over the Mediterranean island

[[https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/apr/19/chris-packham-charged-in-malta-after-confrontation-with-bird-hunters]

Guardian again

www.esdaw.eu/horses--donkeys---romania.html

and who can forget the horsemeat scandal?

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jul/31/two-men-jailed-in-uk-for-horsemeat-conspiracy
The Danish-owned FlexiFoods would buy horsemeat and beef from other traders across Europe and have it delivered to Dinos & Sons in Tottenham. Sideras denied being part of the conspiracy and told the jury he was only storing horsemeat shipments for FlexiFoods.

Animal protection laws is often low priority in eastern and southern Europe and are rarely followed. Citizens who witness animal cruelty and reporting on this to the police or authorities seldom heeded, which leads to apathy among the population. People feel a hopelessness and frustration, not to be heard.

Citizens who live in countries with many stray animals, also report on mental illness and sleep disorders, because of the atrocities they daily witness and the lack of response from the authorities and society to curb these atrocities

The importance of having the same educational programs for animal welfare in Europe's schools, is that the children get an associated understanding between the states. Unfortunately, there are too many testimonies of children and adolescents, especially in Eastern and Southern Europe, which is performing extremely cruel animal torture and many times it is the abandoned companion animals that are exposed - as these are often regarded as vermin and it is considered legally to be cruel and torture and kill dogs and cats in a most cruel manner.

We, the citizens of EU Member States who care about ALL companion animals would like to ask, dear EU decision makers - when do you think it is time to act? After 40 million stray animals have been inhumanely killed in the streets or public shelters, and 80 million new animals have been reproduced to the streets facing the same horrible fate as people continue abandoning them? How long will EU politicians continue to sit back and do nothing? EU would have the power to make a change and stop these atrocities occurring, if EU only had the will!

We require a complete reforming for the welfare of animals in the EU!

www.esdaw-eu.eu/the-eu-and-animal-welfare.html

Has there been improvement? If so, please post that there has and that these eu countries have come up to the standards that the UK adheres to and which our inspectors try to implement.

ilovecheese I hope all the above will ease your concerns about animal welfare in the UK and that leaving the EU will not in any change our responsibilities to animal welfare. Judging by European standards our standards of welfare in the UK are higher even though we still have room for improvement and long may we continue to set the standards.

I think I have thrown all my toys out of the pram now.
Unless I can find another rattle hidden away somewhere.

Pathetic, Jalima.
This is about farmed animals and the fact that this government did not want to keep the clause in about animals feeling pain, etc.
Unfortunately, some areas of Europe think it is normal to eat non-farmed animals such as horses and donkeys.

Easy to find out how your MP voted and you can email him/her with your views.
We should be aiming for standards that are higher than those of the EU and ensuring that they are implemented.

well said Jalima and so many awful European cruelties to animals.

Well done anyone who ploughs through that lot!