A Meat and Dairy Article from All-Creatures.org

Report Reveals Only One Animal Welfare Inspector for Every 878 Farms in Great Britain

From VeganFTA.com
December 2024

Our data shows that the current system is failing animals. Animals continue to be mistreated by those who have a legal responsibility to take care of them and rather than be held accountable for their actions, apparent complacency and disregard for those legal protections stops this from happening on a system-wide basis.

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A study from the Animal Law Foundation, in partnership with Animal Equality, found that only 2.5% of the more than 300,000 UK farms were inspected at least once in 2022 and 2023, with just one local authority inspector for every 878 farms in England, Scotland and Wales. When inspections did take place, 22% of farms were found not to meet animal welfare law standards, but only 1% of non-compliances were prosecuted.

The report, titled “The Enforcement Problem: 2022 to 2023 data”, is an updated version of a similar report covering the years 2018 to 2021. After looking at the new data, the authors concluded that there have been marginal increases in enforcement action across the UK since the original report, but there has been a decrease in the number of farms being inspected.

Edie Bowles, solicitor and executive director of the Animal Law Foundation, said to the Guardian, “Our data shows that the current system is failing animals. Animals continue to be mistreated by those who have a legal responsibility to take care of them and rather than be held accountable for their actions, apparent complacency and disregard for those legal protections stops this from happening on a system-wide basis. It is vital that the protections available to animals mean something in practice. Asking for laws to matter is not a big ask, it is simply the fulfilment of promises already made to the public when parliament enacted those laws in the first place.”

According to the researchers, in 2022, local authorities received 4,982 complaints relating to farmed animal welfare and launched 25 prosecutions. In 2023, they received 4,778 complaints and began 36 prosecutions.

Councillor Heather Kidd, chair of the Local Government Association’s Safer and Stronger Communities board, said: “Councils that carry out welfare-related activities on farms do not receive funding from central government for this work, but carefully juggle priorities and resources to ensure the welfare of farmed animals can be protected.”

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Posted on All-Creatures.org: December 5, 2024
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