So much for a world beating Animal Welfare Bill

The UKs welfare standards are not the highest so stop kidding yourselves. I wouldn’t touch foie gras of any description with a barge pole, and agree no animal agriculture is cruelty free, but what I was saying that there are those in France who are attempting to improve the most cruel of practices. Another back peddle by this government who couldn’t sink any lower in my opinion.

Josieann

I assume the geese have to eat loads by whatever method to cause the chemical reaction in their liver or stomach? If they weren't force fed but had unlimited access to food, would they be like other creatures who don't have a cut off point and just eat continuously, instead of walking away and digesting?

Like dogs if they had a chance?

I wonder what went on during discussions on this change to the bill.
For some reason I tend to cringe when anything is glibly called "world-beating";

I assume the geese have to eat loads by whatever method to cause the chemical reaction in their liver or stomach? If they weren't force fed but had unlimited access to food, would they be like other creatures who don't have a cut off point and just eat continuously, instead of walking away and digesting?

vegansrock

There is now a cruelty free foie gras, so some farmers are gradually changing their practices due to campaigning within France. Why couldn’t we just allow those ones to be imported?

Absolute nonsense. Now it is 'better' than industrial foie gras, but the cruelty is very much there all the same. Force feeding geese until they can barely stand, even if done by 'softer' methods, is still disgusting.

Who can remember the episode of 'Tale of the Unexpected' where a young British couple on honeymoon arrives at a vera posh Hôtel where they win the foie gras price every year, and they are invited to stay for 2 weeks with all meals, wine and calvados for free?

So disappointed, just found this in my signed copy of my hero's cookery book. And it is served in the restaurant too.

Callistemon21 my Danish DiL will not by Danish pork products, when she returns home she reverts back to vegetarianism as does my GC.

We are fortunate to be able to afford high welfare meat and dairy products, I appreciate that we are lucky and that not everyone can.

Food production is big business and there are millions of folks employed in the Industry.

Apologies folks just seen my iPhone has turned foie into fois oops!!!!

The UK has dropped from an A to a B grade in animal welfare - still higher than nearly all EU countries.
Shockingly, not one country has obtained an ‘A’ grade. The United Kingdom is rated highest along with Sweden and Austria all achieving a ‘B’ score. However, there is room for improvement in these countries too.

Failing to implement this means that we won't regain A grade when we could have shown other countries the way forward.

www.worldanimalprotection.org.uk/news/animal-welfare-matters-see-how-countries-treat-animals

Low standards in animal welfare around the world means the real possibility of more disease being passed to humans, eg Covid.

Even worse then if they've been suffering for centuries, I wish someone somewhere could stop it. I was horrified to get a pot of it in a hamper from my MIL years ago, she always managed to get at me one way or another!

Germanshepherdsmum

Does that nasty comment apply also to Conservative voters Paddy?

I assume not, as many Tory voters have said they are disgusted by this reversal of a promise. Most of us understand that by voting for a particular party it does not mean that you slavishly support everything they do or say. There are many examples of Tory MPs who have made their moral beliefs more important than party and have paid the price, this applies to all political parties. There are also many hundreds and thousands of decent, kind Tory voters who are stunned at finding their party led by the liar in no10..

Shandy57

I wonder who invented foie gras. Such a disgusting thing to do to a defenceless creature.

It must go back a long way Shandy because it is in French books in 17th century.

Not sure I understand, paddyann

UK animal welfare laws have always been of a higher standard than those in many EU countries.

The aim was to make them even better now but that doesn't seem to be happening.
It doesnt mean they'll be worse than these other countries, they will still be better and more stringent.

I wonder who invented foie gras. Such a disgusting thing to do to a defenceless creature.

Johnson’s nod to a small state is his effort at pacifying the right of his party. Rees Mogg as the new Brexit opportunities minister, is charged with getting rid of regulation and he seems to be beginning with Animal Welfare.

Someone is being conned and I think it is those who voted for a new Britain, where we were promised world class regulations that would outshine those that had been “imposed” by the EU.

Does that nasty comment apply also to Conservative voters Paddy?

Callistemon the EU consists of 27 sovereign nations,all making their own rules and laws just like the UK did.The EU is only responsible for around 5% of laws passed in the UK .
Watch the good ones disappear fast while the tories sink to their natural vile roots where neither people nor animals are worth anything except their market value

I’m not sure how cruelty free it could be given that production depends on the animals getting fatty livers. Even if they’re not force fed, admittedly the most obnoxious part, surely it’s still cruel.

There is now a cruelty free foie gras, so some farmers are gradually changing their practices due to campaigning within France. Why couldn’t we just allow those ones to be imported?

Austria and the Netherlands have higher standards , not perfection as no country could claim that, despite what some on here think different countries in the EU have different standards, the U.K. isn’t some paragon of virtue and I’m angry the government are ignoring this opportunity to improve.

Callistemon21

Shinamae

Shameful and disgusting but hardly surprising with this bloody government..?

Shinamae

What about all the preceding Governments which allowed the import of about 200 tonnes of foie gras every year?
Did anyone worry about it then, when we were EU members?

Did anyone protest about mink farms in Denmark?

No, thought not!

You have a very short memory. This has always been condemned by those of us who are pro-EU and animal welfare.

To suggest otherwise is not true.

Exactly, one more betrayal.

As for the bears in Canada and USA- more and more châlets, holiday and permanent homes have been built in mountain areas, very close of even in National Parks. So it is mostly NOT the bears trespassing on human territory- but very much the other way round.

Same for badgers and other wild species with very marked territories in the UK.

We have good friends who have a Lodge in Colorado- and they totally agree that they are the trespassers, not the other way round. Their Malamute dogs are very good at bear warning.

Why point the finger at others - I have donated and campaigned against animal cruelty for years - it goes on right here - too much whataboutery. Some EU countries do have higher welfare standards than others, that’s not what this argument is about.

Callistemon
Thank you for mentioning that awful situation. That really is the EUs dirty little secret. But not so secret as it can be seen from outer space ?

Grantanow
It’s worse in Italy ?

That’s the Canadian excuse. Let someone else buy the fur - we don’t have to. There are animal rights groups in Canada against killing wildlife including bears.