‘Cows’ on the Tube? Herd of Animal Allies Demand That Rishi End Live Exports
To mark this year’s Ban Live Exports: International Awareness Day, PETA supporters in sheep and cow masks were herded onto a hot, cramped Tube carriage bound for Westminster.
The ruckus drew attention to the crowded, filthy, and dangerous conditions that sheep, cows, goats, pigs, and other animals in the live-export trade endure, only to meet a violent death when they arrive at their destination – assuming they don’t perish en route.
Live Export: The Commute That Kills
Before Brexit took effect, hundreds of thousands of live animals, including babies and pregnant females, were being exported from the UK every year for slaughter or “fattening” overseas. Since 2020, live export for slaughter and fattening has halted due to new restrictions at border control ports in northern Europe, but it could resume again at any time.
Animals can be in transit for days or weeks without sufficient food, water, or rest, and many die as a result. When animals leave the UK, they also leave behind the marginally better legal protections afforded to them, and many endure excruciating deaths in horrendous conditions that would be illegal here.
Transporting live animals thousands of miles is also a major cause of the spread of zoonotic diseases around the world – from foot-and-mouth disease and avian influenza to SARS.
Cows and Sheep Are Betrayed
The government committed to a live-export ban in its 2019 manifesto and its 2021 Action Plan for Animal Welfare. However, last month, it scrapped the widely supported Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill – which included a ban on live exports, cracked down on puppy smuggling, and prevented primates from being kept as “pets” – in what many consider to be a major betrayal of the voting public as well as animals.
The government has stated that the measures in the bill, including the live-export ban, will be delivered by other means, but it is yet to take any action.
Animals Need You to Take Action
Animals raised for their flesh already suffer tremendously, and the least we can do is spare them the unnecessary trauma of an arduous journey overseas before they’re killed.
PETA is calling on the government to bring a live-export ban into force before Brexit restrictions are eased and the awful practice can resume from the UK.
Join our campaign by telling the environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey, to end this horrific cruelty now!
