PROJECTION STUNT IN CENTRAL LONDON DRAWS ATTENTION TO LIVE EXPORTS!

On Saturday activists from pressure group, Animal Justice Project [1], used a projector to illuminate a message onto the Houses of Parliament to highlight the issue of live exports.

The projection demands the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, implement a ban on live animal exports, as published by the Government in May 2021 [2], but with the amendment of including all species and all purposes.

The Kept Animals Bill [3], which would see the live export ban come into effect, has stalled for over 15 months following after half a century of campaigning from the public, animal protection groups, veterinary bodies, and MPs.
The Kept Animals Bill will bring about a ban on the live export of certain species of animals for certain purposes. In its current form however, Animal Justice Project claims thousands of large animals such as Sheep, pigs and cows will continue to be exported for breeding purposes and no birds such as turkeys, ducklings and chicks will be protected at all, leaving millions of vulnerable day-old chicks and ducklings to be exported to places as far flung as South-East Asia.

Animal Justice Project say that the ban will include “just 4%” of animals exported from the UK – a percentage calculated using published live export statistics between 2016 and 2019 [e.g. 4 – 6], leaving the majority of the trade (breeding stock) to continue [5]. In 2018, 25 million chicks (including turkeys) and ducklings were live exported, including 9 million to countries including Malaysia, the Philippines and Bangladesh [5], with most of the trade being for ‘high-value breeding stock for both egg layers and broilers, from chickens with sought-after genetic characteristics’. In 2019, the National Farmers Union estimated that a combined 31,000 cattle, sheep and goats were exported from the UK to the EU, and only around 5% would have been exported for fattening for slaughter, with the rest going for breeding, the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has estimated [6]. In 2020, figures from the National Pig Association state that 12,000 pigs were exported for breeding to the EU [6].

Concerns over the stalling of the Kept Animals Bill is not new. The British Veterinary Association, RSPCA and Compassion in World Farming have all voiced concerns on the stalling of it, with the RSPCA warning that the UK’s animal welfare reform agenda could collapse because of the continuing delay. In a December 2022 debate, called after more than 107,000 people signed a parliamentary petition [7] demanding the Government “urgently” finds the time necessary to bring the long-awaited bill into law, the government has claimed it does not have the parliamentary time to allow them to move forward [8].

Animal Justice Project says it’s ‘Lives not Stock’ campaign [9] highlights the “forgotten” animals. Ayrton Cooper, Campaigns Manager for Animal Justice Project says: “Finally, in 2021 we were promised a ban on live exports. Yet, here we are still waiting for it to become a reality. Not only is this Bill unacceptably delayed, it also fails to prevent birds from being exported, as well as larger animals for breeding. If the decision to ban live exports is based on animal welfare considering live exports cause overcrowding, stress, exhaustion, dehydration, hunger and even death, then there is no good reason why all animals should not be included. On Saturday we’ll be delivering a message direct to the government in London, that this cruel trade n live animals must end – for all species, and for all purposes.’