League Against Cruel Sports welcome for Labour Party animal welfare plan
Posted 14th February 2018
The League Against Cruel Sports has welcomed the launch of the Labour Party animal welfare plan which if implemented will bring in much needed protection for British wildlife.
Eduardo Goncalves, CEO of the League Against Cruel Sports, said: “We warmly welcome Labour’s commitment to strengthening the Hunting Act 2004, and look forward to contributing to the consultation process. It’s clear that hunts are routinely flouting the law and continuing to kill wildlife across Britain, whether that be through so-called ‘trail hunting’ or by exploiting legal loopholes. This must stop. An overwhelming majority – more than eight out of ten – of British people want to see an end to hunting, and we look forward to making that a reality.
“We are also pleased to see a commitment to ban intensive rearing of game birds. Shooting for ‘sport’ operates on an industrial scale, with approximately 35 million birds reared for shooting purposes in the UK every year, with many shot birds simply dumped and left to rot in the countryside. The vast majority of pheasants and red-legged partridges shot are bred in intensive breeding facilities, denied even the welfare standards afforded to poultry. Any industry built on this much suffering has no place in modern Britain.
“There are some proposals which we believe could go further, or be clarified. We look forward to responding to the consultation in order to give British animals the fullest possible protection.”
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