Executive Summary

The United Kingdom has a long tradition of animal welfare, being the first country in the world to enact animal welfare legislation. Animal welfare today remains a matter of priority for the British public and this is reflected in the fact that UK legislation goes beyond EU requirements in certain areas, for example, sow stalls are banned during the whole of a sow’s pregnancy, whereas they are still allowed for the first four weeks of pregnancy at the EU level. The UK also introduced voluntary bans of certain categories of animal experimentation before required to do so by EU regulations. Remarkably, the UK has also outlawed fur farming for all species. The UK should also be applauded for not following the pattern of states in North America and Canada which have introduced so-called ‘Ag-gag’ laws, which ban undercover filming on farms without the consent of the owner, thus reducing the incidence of whistleblowing. To the contrary in England, CCTV in slaughterhouses has become mandatory, thus increasing, rather than decreasing, visibility of conditions for animals at the most vulnerable time of their lives.

Since the API was first published in 2014, several laws have been passed to improve animal welfare. Notably, secondary legislation has been passed in England and Wales which substantially updates the licensing regime for certain activities using animals, such as the sale of animals as pets, dog breeding and the keeping and training of animals for exhibition and there has been a complete ban on the sale of puppies and kittens under eight weeks of age. Scotland has proposed to introduce new regulations for the licensing of dog, cat and rabbit breeding activities. In England, the Government has also shown a commitment to stamping out illegitimate trade in puppies and kittens bred under poor welfare conditions (so called ‘puppy mills’ or ‘puppy farms’) by banning the sale of puppies and kittens by third parties, i.e. anyone other than the breeder or an animal shelter. This is a bold step and the devolved Governments of Scotland and Wales have announced a similar third-party ban on the sale of puppies and kittens.

The Animal Welfare (Service Animals) 2019 has strengthened the capability of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to deal with offenders causing ‘unnecessary suffering’ to an animal on duty in public service. The so-called ‘Finn’s Law’ means that anyone injured by an animal on duty cannot rely as a defence upon the fact that they were acting to protect themselves whilst trying to evade the law.

As for international wildlife, the Government should also be applauded for enacting the Ivory Act 2018, which introduced a near-total ban on dealing in items containing elephant ivory, regardless of their age, within the UK, as well as export from or import to the UK. In other respects, with regards to wild animals within the UK, various pieces of legislation at national and EU levels provide a "patchwork" style protective framework which is overly ripe for revision.

There is room for improvement in other domains related to animal welfare. Notably, as the UK has voted to leave the European Union, there is a risk that successive governments will water down the regulatory protection afforded animals across sectors such as research and farming and/or will sign trade deals which permit exports of animal products produced to lower animal welfare standards. There is also a risk that governance systems around animal welfare will be weakened. Article 13 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union is at risk of not being transposed (properly or at all) in UK legislation post-Brexit, so as to retain the current recognition of animal sentience in law and, more importantly, the duty to have regard – in a meaningful way – to the welfare needs of sentient animals when making or implementing public policy. The scope of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 has not been reviewed for some time, and there is concern that it does not reflect scientific evidence that has emerged about the sentience of some invertebrate species, such as cephalopods and decapod crustaceans.

In contrast to farming, where measures have been taken to increase transparency (at the time of slaughter), the regulatory regime in Britain for animals used in research still suffers from a lack of openness and there has been inertia around the repeal of Section 24 of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, which has been acknowledged as out of step with modern society and potentially impeding progress towards reducing the number of animals used in research. The number of live animals used for research purposes in the UK remains significantly high.

In farming, the UK allows the confinement of farm animals in cages. There are also several areas where the law protecting farmed animals could be strengthened, and enforcement should be a priority, particularly around transport. Furthermore, Northern Ireland allows for higher stocking density of broiler chickens than that required at the EU level. The UK also permits the slaughter of non-stunned animals for religious purposes. With regards to animals used in entertainment, the UK still allows the exploitation of greyhounds and horses for races. Additionally, the private keeping of wild animals is permitted though sometimes regulated through a licence scheme. The UK and devolved Governments are strongly encouraged to enact legislation recognising animal sentience and imposing a duty upon public bodies to have regard to animal welfare when making policy decisions. To make this meaningful, legislation should include the power to establish an Animal Welfare Advisory Commission to provide animal welfare impact assessments to Government on policy and legislation– including individual departments and public bodies – and assistance in discharging its duty to animals, providing independent and transparent advice. Scotland is already leading the way in setting up an Animal Protection Commission to advise the Scottish Government. The Government should also use this opportunity to review the legal protection afforded invertebrates and to recognise the sentience of those species in respect of whom new scientific evidence has emerged. Furthermore, the UK Government is strongly encouraged to expediently enact legislation to increase sentencing for animal cruelty offences from six months to five years. Regarding farm animals, the UK is urged to ban the slaughter of animals who are not stunned, as well as to ban the confinement of farm animals in cages. The UK Government is also strongly encouraged to ban the import of fur products. Other cruel practices which should be banned include the exploitation of animals for entertainment, such as greyhound or horse racing. The UK Government is encouraged to adopt a Positive List of species, specifying which animals can be kept as companion animals, based on clear criteria including animal welfare. Further policy and legislative recommendations are associated with each Animal Protection Index (API) indicator and detailed in the relevant sections of this report.