Welsh Government
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New plans to protect animals at the time of killing
The Welsh Government has opened a six week consultation on how it can maintain high welfare standards for animals that are slaughtered in Wales for human consumption.
The consultation is a response to an EU Regulation, due to come into force on 1 January 2013 that will set minimum European standards for the treatment of animals at the time of their killing.
The Welsh Government wants to ensure that the new European standards - otherwise known as Regulation 1099/2099 - do not result in a lowering of welfare standards for animals slaughtered here in Wales.
The consultation is seeking views on:
- The legal obligations in Regulations 1099/2099
- Plans to implement stricter rules to help maintain current welfare standards in Wales where these are already higher than in EU Regulation 1099/2009
- The gathering of information about non-stun methods of slaughter
- Criminal and administrative sanctions and penalties for the breaching of these rules.
The Minister said:
“Wales has a strong record in animal welfare. Whilst we welcome the EU Regulation to improve the treatment of animals at the time of their killing across Europe, we are keen to ensure that the best welfare standards are achieved for animals at the time of their slaughter here in Wales.
“We also want to look at the welfare of the very small percentage of animals that are currently slaughtered in Wales without stunning and whether we can improve welfare in these instances. These are emotive issues for a range of groups so I would urge anyone with an interest to feed into the consultation.”
The regulations will impact on the significant number of animals killed or slaughtered annually in Wales. These are:
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49.3 million poultry
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3.8 million sheep
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36,000 pigs
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139,000 cattle
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18,000 calves
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226 deer
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258 goats
The consultation will run from 24 September until 5 November. You can access the full consultation on the Welsh Government website.
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