Memorandum submitted by Jill Weston
My main criticism of the draft is that it apparently
excludes farmed animals (in spite of the reference in Mr Bradshaw's
last paragraph to "all kept animals"). I have referred
the matter to Compassion in World Farming and the information
officer there advised me to get in touch with the Farm Animal
Welfare Council to see whether they can throw light on the ambiguities
in the Draft.
There are many details in this document which
I wish to question, such as:
1. How far deprivation orders are effectively
enforced?
2. How is the welfare of animals caught
in traps protected under the Act?
3. Strychnine—I agree with the RSPCA
that strychnine is too dangerous to be used.
4. Mutilations—are mutilations of
farm animals to continue to be permitted?
5. Electric goads and prods: it seems to
be nonsense to say that scientific evidence is required to support
the view that these should be banned.
6. Ragwort—Defra claims that that
legislation now exists for its removal from all land; this is
not enforced on road verges.
I want above all to stress that much more suffering
is caused to animals, as a matter of course, by modern (factory)
farming methods than to non-farmed animals.
August 2004
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