Bring Back the Pending Animal Welfare Bill
No matter what you thought of him (and for most of us, that was not a lot), one of the few brilliant things that Boris Johnson did while Prime Minister, was create and try to pass through the Kept Animals Bill.
The name does not sound good, but it was the biggest package of animal welfare changes in modern history.
It would have banned puppy mills, imports of trophy hunting and made stronger penalties for those who abused animals.
It would have included new measures to tackle livestock worrying, banned import of ill dogs for breeding and banned keeping primates as pets. Even game birds (pheasants), llamas and ostriches would have been given greater protection.
Then Rishi Sunak got rid of it, before it even came into law. Now there is an Animal Sentience Committee instead (talking around a table).
Even Conservative MP Andrea Jenkyns launched an online petition, urging him to rethink dropping the bill, something that all the major animal welfare charities are appalled at.
The Bill was dropped with just 5 more hours to debate, before it would have gone to the House of Lords for approval.
These dropped animal welfare pledges could be pivotal, when assessing the UK government’s page in the history books.
From ending the live export of animals to dealing with pet theft and stopping the import of dogs with cropped ears, there’s so this government promised, which has sadly found its way onto the Whitehall scrapheap. Emma Slawinksi (director of policy RSPCA)
Yet the strange issue is that Rishi Sunak is a devout Hindu, a religion that is known for being kind to animals. He made history when using the Bhagavad Gita (over the Bible) to be sworn in, and has told journalists that his deep faith guides his every decision as Prime Minister.
If you’ve ever done yoga, you’ll know that the main doctrines of the faith are ahimsa (do no harm) and karma (all living beings should be treated with respect, as Hindus believe in reincarnation for their actions in this life).
The Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Bill was introduced in December 2023, following the colossal betrayal to animals with the scrapping of the Kept Animals Bill.
This new Bill solely focuses on a ban on live export of large animals for fattening and slaughter. But the Bill has holes as they will still be allowed to be live exported for breeding. Animal Justice Project
