Minister admits plan to drop UK debeaking ban

The UK Government is planning to drop its own ban on the debeaking of laying hens, according to a Parliamentary answer by Animal Welfare Minister, Jim Fitzpatrick MP. This is the clearest signal yet that Government promises on animal welfare are likely to be broken. And underlines our need to step up the pressure to ensure that the ban, due to enter into force in under a year's time, is not written out of the statute books.

In answer to the question of whether it remains government policy to introduce the ban in 2011, the Minister replied that a consultation will be issued shortly on the proposal to "remove the total ban on beak trimming, to allow for routine beak trimming of day old chicks intended for laying to be done using the infra-red technique". The Minister suggested that this was necessary until it can be demonstrated that hens can be managed commercially without the mutilation.

This is a clear case of the Government ignoring the very scientific and practical evidence that it used when agreeing the ban in 2002. It also ignores the lead taken by other countries, notably in Sweden, Norway and Finland, where debeaking has already been banned successfully. In Austria too, the majority of laying hens are kept cage-free and debeaking, often called "beak trimming", is ruled out by the country's major certification schemes. You can read more in our latest report marshalling the latest evidence in favour of the ban going ahead.

Debeaking (or 'beak-trimming' as it is often referred to) involves cutting off a part of the bird's beak with a red-hot blade or an infra-red beam. It is a serious mutilation used to control feather pecking caused by factors such as inappropriate husbandry systems, management or strain of hen.

It looks like the UK Government has swallowed assertions that debeaking using infra-red is somehow better. This is despite evidence that removing part of a bird's beak with an infra-red beam results in acute pain. It also causes the bird to show reduced growth rate, to eat less, to show more fearfulness and to avoid pecking more than birds debeaked using a hot blade. All of this suggests, as you'd expect, that debeaking is a traumatic experience – and yes, there is evidence that infra-red debeaking causes long term pain too.

It really is time to show the Government that back-tracking on animal welfare is far from acceptable. Please help us to step up the pressure on the Government by writing to your MP asking them to sign Early Day Motion 92 on this issue.

If you've not already done so, please also send this urgent e-card to the Government.

On behalf of the UK's laying hens, I sincerely thank you.

Farm animals in an election year

As the news suggests that unofficial election campaigns are underway by some of Britain's political parties, it seems a good time to revisit what we want from politicians to improve farm animal welfare.

At Compassion, we pursue a number of approaches toward achieving a better deal for farm animals, including our objective of feeding the world without factory farming. One of those strategies is to work with our elected representatives to educate them on the need for effective legislation and progressive public policies to protect farm animals. There's no better time than a general election to lobby parliamentary candidates. Indeed, I believe every election, including local councils, the Welsh Assembly, the Scottish Parliament, the Westminster Parliament or the European Parliament, is a good opportunity to speak up for farm animals.

This is why Compassion is a proud member of the Vote Cruelty Free campaign. This is a non-partisan coalition comprising of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, International Fund for Animal Welfare, League Against Cruel Sports and Respect for Animals. Our mission is to ensure that public concern for animal welfare is recognised by working directly with candidates and elected officials to achieve positive change. Vote Cruelty Free covers a broad range of animal welfare issues. Compassion's involvement focuses solely on farm animal welfare.

In the Vote Cruelty Free farm animal welfare manifesto, we particularly call for:

• A ban on the export of animals for slaughter or fattening
• Prohibition of 'enriched' cages for egg laying hens
• Government enforcement of EU legislation requiring pigs to be given enrichment materials and banning routine tail docking
• Animal welfare to be a core objective of Government food policy.

Interestingly, our lobbying on the latter point appears to be bearing fruit in that the newly unveiled UK Government food strategy cites "farmers producing efficiently, sustainably and safely to high standards of animal welfare" as a key goal for 2030. Having made progress, we need to keep it up. We need to ensure that governments properly achieve the reforms they have committed to. A case in point is the threat to the EU ban on barren battery cages.

Please help us to raise farm animal welfare up the agenda during the impending election campaign. Please go to the Vote Cruelty Free Lobby Your Future MP page and key in your post code to find out if your Prospective Parliamentary Candidates have signed up to support our campaign. Also, stay tuned for future announcements on how you can make a difference for farmed animals in the next general election.

Thank you.

People power pays off

People power can and does change things. That is the message delivered by the UK Environment Secretary, Hilary Benn, yesterday in his speech to the Oxford Farming Conference. And, as an organisation that helps people to help farm animals, it's a message that strongly resonates with us here at Compassion.

"People power can help bring about a revolution in the way food is produced and sold", said Mr Benn. He gave the revolution in non-cage eggs as a shining example, "A decade ago, only 16 per cent of eggs produced in the UK were free range. In the last ten years that's more than doubled to just under 40 per cent. Waitrose, M&S and the Co-op now sell only free range or organic eggs. And with the UK 80 per cent self-sufficient in free range eggs this is a great example of how our farmers have responded to what consumers want, to the benefit of both.

Mr Benn was unveiling the UK Government's food strategy that sets out goals for 2030, and the changes that need to be made to achieve them. As the Government press release puts it, these include:

·       "Farmers producing efficiently, sustainably and safely to high standards of animal welfare"

·       "Farmers and fishermen producing more with fewer resources and fewer carbon emissions"

·       "Informed consumers able to choose and afford healthy food, supported by better labelling and information."

These are welcome and encouraging statements indeed. Congratulations to Hilary Benn for choosing the Oxford Farming Conference as the backdrop for this new plan. And congratulations to you, our supporters, for making sure that the voice of farm animal welfare has been heard in Whitehall. We will continue to work with Governments in the UK and across the globe to ensure that goals like those set out by Mr Benn above are identified and achieved.

Whilst this big picture vision is very welcome, we should not forget that the UK Government also appears to be considering undermining both the EU ban on barren battery cages and the UK ban on debeaking for laying hens. This is particularly ironic as the consumer switch to more welfare-friendly eggs has been so marked. You can read the background to this, including the Daily Mail article, in my earlier posting on this. And please help ensure that people power can and does change this situation by sending our urgent e-card to the Minister responsible for animal welfare.