Transport of Farm Animals (Hansard, 9 February 1999)

§ Mr. Gwyn Prosser (Dover)

I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make provision with respect to the welfare of farm animals exported from Great Britain; to require Ministers to lay before Parliament proposals for ending the export of live farm animals and the transport of such animals over long distances; and for connected purposes. My Bill is designed to help to bring live exports to an end. it reflects the widespread public concern about that cruel trade. In a recent poll commissioned by Compassion in World Farming, a massive 88 per cent. of those questioned said that they believed that the export of live animals should be brought to an end. They believed that animals should be slaughtered in the United Kingdom and exported as meat. I am in complete accord with that view, and I am pleased that the Government have restated their clear preference for our meat to be exported on the hook rather than on the hoof.

Each year, more than 500,000 animals—mainly lambs and sheep, but also pigs—are exported on lengthy journeys of 30 hours or more. Crammed into overcrowded trucks, the animals are vulnerable to being badly bruised and seriously injured. If they fall down, they stay down, trampled by their companions. In summer, hot weather and poor ventilation can be killers. Not many years ago, we heard ghastly reports of the 300 British sheep that died of heat exhaustion during a journey to Greece. Three quarters of the total stock perished in torturous conditions.

Before I came to the House, I was a Merchant Navy officer. I have heard the cries of shipped animals in the Red sea. I have smelt the stench of rotting carcases in the Arabian gulf. During my 12 years' sailing on cross-channel ferries from Dover, I witnessed the suffering of lambs and calves as they struggled to stay standing against the violent rolling of the ship when stuffed into overcrowded trucks.

I am pleased to acknowledge that significant improvements have been made in recent years. Building on initiatives taken by the previous Administration, the Government have implemented the Welfare of Animals (Transport) Order 1997 and are conducting a major review on the subject. Although the new regulations represent a step forward, they are still failing to ensure uniformly high standards of welfare and enforcement.

Just last autumn, welfare societies tracked down UK sheep that had been sent right across Europe to Greece. By the time they arrived, they were in extremely poor condition—most were gasping for air and many had already died. Last December, Compassion in World Farming trailed British sheep from a staging point in Belgium down to a slaughterhouse near Bari in southern Italy. The journey covered 2,000 km and lasted 30 hours. Together with the journey across the UK and the trip across the channel, the total travelling time could have exceeded 40 hours.

When the investigators tried to film the truck on its arrival at the slaughterhouse, two gunshots rang out from the slaughterhouse and they had to abandon their filming, but the gunshots are clearly recorded on video. We do not have to guess what the slaughterhouse bosses were trying to hide. Earlier film footage of the same location shows sheep being roughly dragged across by their back legs, their heads bumping along concrete floors. The stunning 128 process was so casually applied that the animals were in danger of regaining consciousness during the bleeding out.

The suffering inherent in live exports was highlighted as long ago as 1993, when the European Commission stressed that long distance transport in overstocked vehicles, combined with dehydration and starvation, results in poor welfare and often in high mortality. Soon we will again witness what is undoubtedly one of the most cruel facets of the live animal export trade. Each March, thousands of United Kingdom sheep are exported to France for ritual slaughter during the Aid el Kabir festival. The animals are killed in open fields on the outskirts of Paris. The sheep are held down, their throats are cut and, while fully conscious, they bleed to death. Many of those killing the animals are untrained and carry out the slaughter so inexpertly that the sheep can take several minutes to die.

Science shows my concerns about the live animal trade to be well founded. A paper on sheep transport by scientists at the university of Bristol concluded that, from a welfare point of view, transport distances and times should be kept to a minimum". It added: this study and previous work show that transport is a stressful process involving psychological and physical stress. The researchers concluded that long journeys can result in increased levels of disease and mortality.

Although I seek to improve the general welfare of animals in transit, my Bill is also designed to bring this cruel live export trade to a complete end. Successive Governments have argued that European trade rules prevent us from prohibiting live exports. My Bill requires my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to lay before Parliament proposals for securing a derogation from our European Union partners permitting the United Kingdom to prohibit live animal exports.

We would argue our case on the ground that an overwhelming majority of British people consider this inhumane trade to be morally offensive. In 1991, the then Government secured a derogation permitting the United Kingdom to retain its ban on the export of horses for slaughter. Having demonstrated the principle that public moral offence is sufficient cause to seek, and obtain, derogation, it is not unreasonable, considering the growing moral objection to this trade, to ask the Government to extend that principle to farm animals.

A review of the European Union's transport directive is due at the end of the year. My Bill requires Ministers to lay before Parliament proposals in respect of how to encourage our EU partners, when undertaking that review, to embrace a far-reaching change of policy, whereby long-distance live transport would be abandoned throughout the EU and replaced by trade in meat.

My Bill also contains a number of measures designed to strengthen the welfare rules that currently govern the trade. Exporters claim that continental consumers want only our live animals, not our meat. As 95 per cent. of our sheep exports are in meat form, that argument is simply not borne out by the facts. With skilful marketing on the continent, it should be possible to convert all our exports into meat form.

129 United Kingdom abattoirs would clearly benefit from the ending of live exports. If, instead of being sent for slaughter abroad, the animals were slaughtered in this country, many new jobs, and extra profits, would be created in United Kingdom abattoirs and the allied industries. The rural economy would benefit from the added value derived from processing animals in this country rather than exporting them.

The export of tiny calves to continental veal crates first alerted public opinion to the horrors of live exports. Calf exports were halted by the beef ban. Dairy farmers, however, have made it clear that they want to resume calf exports. The recent lifting of the beef ban did not extend to calf exports, but, at a future stage, the EU may lift the ban as part of its changes.

Accordingly, it is vital, as my Bill requires, that the Minister should seek a derogation permitting the United Kingdom to prohibit live exports. Unless an exemption is allowed, thousands of calves could again be shipped off to endure an unimaginably cruel existence in the veal crates of Holland.

Finally, I want to mention a new abuse that has recently come to light. About 150,000 breeding sows are exported annually from the United Kingdom. On arrival on the continent, many are kept in sow stalls and tether stalls—systems so cruel that their use is illegal in the United Kingdom. I believe that it is wrong for sows to be exported for rearing abroad in systems that are so cruel that they are outlawed in our country.

We pride ourselves on being a nation of animal lovers, yet in the name of free trade we permit a commerce that regularly inflicts great suffering on animals. This inhumane trade in live creatures is cruel and unnecessary. My Bill will help hasten its end, and I urge the House to give it enthusiastic support.