Parliament to debate live exports
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A Kent MP has secured a debate in Parliament today to urge the
government to stop live animal exports from the Port of
Ramsgate.
Laura Sandys, MP for Ramsgate, will attempt to convince the
House of Commons to do all they can to stop the trade going
ahead.
Ms Sandys said: "Animals are sentient beings and deserve to
be treated with care and compassion - exporting them on long,
cramped journeys is barbaric and totally unnecessary. Live exports
are a thing of the past.
"Just as the last Labour Government found it was unable to put a
stop to the trade due to EU Regulations, so too the Coalition is
finding it impossible to unilaterally prevent what, at present, is
a legal trade. "
However the MP believes there are ways in which the Government
could make exporting livestock "more difficult and more importantly
significantly more expensive."
She added: "A new labelling system that was passed 2 weeks ago
will ban producers from labelling the country of origin as the
place of slaughter. If an animal is reared in the UK this must be
declared - this could make people think twice about purchasing
exported meat and kill off the trade."
Earlier this year Thanet council called for a limit on the
time that animals should be kept in captivity during
transportation.
The council leader, Bob Bayford, made the request to the
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), which
looks after the welfare of animals when they are being
transported.
In reply, DEFRA said that, although they would prefer
animals to be "slaughtered as close as practicable to their point
of production," the government "would not support setting an
automatic eight-hour maximum journey time for all species of
livestock".
Instead, DEFRA said that they will be supporting the idea
of European discussions of setting a maximum journey time or
maximum distance limit, which aims to stop animals being sent on
unnecessarily long journeys to slaughter.
Monday, October 24 2011
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