10 Downing Street animal sentience petition hand-in

Celebrities including Alesha Dixon, Evanna Lynch and Number 10’s Larry the Cat are also backing the #BetterDealForAnimals campaign which is supported by 40 leading animal welfare charities including World Animal Protection. The new law would mean that animal sentience would continue to be recognised in UK law.

Current EU regulations recognise animal sentience and ensure a level of animal welfare standards, but these will become defunct when the UK leaves the EU on 31st October. This leaves the country open to dodgy trade deals in meat that is produced with poor farming practices, including washing chicken carcasses in chlorine and pumping animals with hormones.

The petition had already prompted a Parliamentary debate on animal sentience for September 9th, but due to the chaos in parliament the debate has now been knocked down the priorities list and rescheduled to November.

Sonul Badiani-Hamment, World Animal Protection external affairs advisor said: “We’re now just weeks from leaving the EU with no legislation or parliamentary time in sight. With government and parliament fighting between themselves, animals are being entirely forgotten. Mr Johnson should listen to Larry the Cat, celebrities, MPs and the millions of animal lovers across the country and ensure animal sentience legislation is prioritised at the first opportunity.”

Number 10s Larry the Cat said, “I was delighted to receive more than 100,000 signatures from my friends at #BetterDealForAnimals as part of their campaign for animal sentience to be recognised; perhaps it could be called #LarrysLaw #BetterDealForAnimals."

The #BetterDealForAnimals campaign has already been backed by 60 MPs and peers across all parties.

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