UK Government scraps protection for hens, game birds, pigs, cows, sheep and circus animals

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Please see below for sample letter you may use regarding this issue as well as a petition.  Please modify the letter and shorten if possible, thank you.

SOURCE: FACEBOOK EVENT

BACKGROUND

UK Government scraps protection for hens, game birds, pigs, cows, sheep and circus animals- please everyone all over the globe take action now by protesting to UK Prime Minister David Cameron, James Paice Agriculture Minister and those animal lovers in the UK please also write to your own local MP’s. You can google search contact details for your own local MP.
The Betrayals

• Game Birds
• Issue: Keeping of game birds such as pheasants in cages.
• Number of animals affected: Hundreds of thousands.

Last government policy: In one of its last acts in power, on 15 March 2010, Labour introduced a new Code of Practice for “game bird” production which in effect would have banned the use of battery cages for breeding pheasants within months.

What the Coalition has done: Animal Welfare minister James Paice withdrew  the code and replaced it with a new version which allowed “enriched” cages to remain. The decision followed lobbying from shooting organisations, such as the Countryside Alliance and the Game Farmers’ Association.

RSPCA comment: “The RSPCA is concerned that the Government has overturned expert recommendations against the use of cages to breed game birds in England. The Society is calling for proper scientific research to establish how to best meet the birds’ needs under Section 9 of the Animal Welfare Act. In the meantime, the aim is to persuade the industry to act in accordance with the scientific principles of welfare and avoid using cages.”

• Circus Animals
• Issue: Use of performing wild animals such as tigers and elephants.
• How many animals affected: Around 40. Four British circuses use wild animals: the Great British Circus, which has tigers, lions, camels and zebras; Peter Jolly’s Circus (camels, zebras, snakes and crocodiles); Circus Mondao (camels and zebras); and Bobby Roberts Circus (camels and elephant).

What was going to happen?: On 25 March 2010, Labour’s environment minister, Jim Fitzpatrick, said he was “minded” to ban performing wild animals after research showed that 94 per cent of the public supported a ban.

What the Coalition has done: The Coalition said it was considering whether to proceed and would announce its position “in the autumn”. James Paice told the Commons he was sympathetic to a ban but said his colleague Lord Henley was mulling over issues.

RSPCA comment: “The RSPCA believes the circus is no place for a wild animal. It does not believe that wild animals should be subjected to the confinement, constant transportation and abnormal social groups associated with circus life. The UK Government promised three years ago that wild animals in travelling circuses would be banned – yet lions, tigers, elephants and other animals still tour the UK. We want to see the urgent introduction of regulations under the Animal Welfare Act.”

• Slaughterhouse Cruelty
• Issue: Cruelty against pigs, sheep and cattle by abattoir workers.
• Number of animals affected: 29 million.

What was going to happen?: Prosecutions had been started against four operators at five abattoirs, and nine workers, following an undercover investigation by an animal welfare charity, Animal Aid. It found poor conditions at six of seven slaughterhouses it investigated between January 2009 and April 2010: footage showed animals being kicked, slapped, stamped, and picked up by fleeces and ears and thrown into stunning pens. Some sheep had their throats cut while not properly stunned.

What the Coalition has done: The Department for Food and Rural Affairs dropped the prosecutions, saying it had become aware of legal precedents where courts had refused to accept “unlawfully obtained video footage”. Instead, the Food Standards Agency has asked the 370 slaughterhouses in England and Wales to install CCTV cameras.

RSPCA comment: The RSPCA does not wish to comment on specific court cases.

• Badger Cull
• Issue: Spread of bovine TB from wild badgers to cattle.
• How many animals affected: 6,000 badgers could be killed in the first year.

What was going to happen: In July 2008, the then Environment Secretary, Hilary Benn, ruled out a cull, saying a cull would worsen rates of bovine TB outside of culling areas. Instead he committed 20m more into trials of a vaccination programme for badgers in six areas.

What the Coalition has done: Proposed that farmers in areas of heavy TB infestation cull badgers by cage-trapping and shooting them, or by “free shooting” as animals emerge from their setts. It has scaled back trial vaccinations to one area.

RSPCA comment: “On the basis of the current science, welfare concerns and practicality, any decision for a widespread cull of badgers would be totally unacceptable. Farmers or any non-statutory agency carrying out a cull… would make the welfare issues involved in killing badgers worse. It would be near impossible to police or monitor such a cull and could make enforcement of the Protection of Badgers Act very difficult.”

• Beak Trimming
• Issue: Mutilation of laying hens.
• Number of animals affected: 20 million.

What was going to happen?: Labour decided to end beak trimming, which is carried out to prevent laying hens pecking and cannibalising each other in cramped battery cages. A ban enacted eight years ago was due to come into force on 1 January 2011.

What the Coalition has done: After the egg industry said it was not prepared for the end of beak trimming, the Coalition will delay a complete ban by at least five years, until 2016. Instead, the Government banned trimming with hot blades and allowed another technology which still causes pain – infra-red.

RSPCA comment: “The RSPCA is extremely disappointed that no specific date has been set for a ban on beak trimming for laying hens. The mutilation of all livestock is undesirable.”


PETITION

Worldwide Protests Needed Now! UK Government Scraps Protection for Animals!


WHOM TO CONTACT

Email block

Enqserv@rspca.org.uk , paicejet@parliament.uk
David Cameron: http://www.number10.gov.uk/contact-us/

Individual

Please write to the ‘RSPCA’ with your concerns urging them to lobby the government over this crucial issue: Enqserv@rspca.org.uk

Please write to David Cameron: camerond@parliament.uk

Please write to James Paice Agriculture Minister: paicejet@parliament.uk


SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Prime Minster Cameron, Agriculture Minister Paice, and RSCPA members:

I am gravely concerned regarding the very disturbing action of delaying or denying critically important moves to help animals. Indeed, millions of hens will have their beaks mutilated; game birds will remain in cages; pigs, sheep and cows in abattoirs will lose crucial protection from abuse; badgers will be culled; and lions, tigers and other wild animals will continue to perform in the big top. I am therefore respectfully requesting that you implement measures to illegalize these practices: This blatant demonstration of brutality has substantiated a cruel and dangerous lesson: when you expose people to such violence towards animals, you are indeed maintaining the position that ours is a world of suffering and brutality, desensitizing humans to animal cruelty, which inevitably leads to crimes against humans.

Ours is not a challenge to be regarded as humans against humans but rather as a welcomed obligation, indeed privilege, to build and effect an international attitude of compassion, justice, and equality to our animal friends. We do not gain power or control by degrading animals but rather we desensitize ourselves to all cruelty and victims become mere numbers, statistics, or financial means. This maliciousness is insidious as to be almost unrecognizable until we become immune to all suffering. We must not continue to objectify animals by condoning violent acts perpetrated on them or accepting them as undeserving of empathy and respect lest we lose our capability of humaneness towards all living creatures.

It is impossible to contemplate supporting any country, via tourism or commerce, that excuses such blatant animal cruelty; the global community will not defend this malicious and unnecessary business. I therefore hope this letter finds you willing to scrutinize both your own involvement in the intentional exploitation of animals and your desire to therefore protect, rather than harm, them. Please make the ethical decision to enact immediate protections for these sentient group of beings or lobby the government to do so.

I know your time is limited and I thank you for your attention to this urgent appeal.

NAME

United kingdom
Should be a
Kingdom for all
Including our brothers
Who swim,walk,fly
Or crawl

Karen Lyons Kalmenson