Rishi Sunak: Reinstate the Kept Animals Bill!

On Friday 2 June, Animal Justice Project activists gathered in Westminster, London, to protest Parliament. Following the astonishing betrayal that was announced by Mark Spencer on Thursday 25 May, stating that the UK government was scrapping the long-awaited Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill, we rallied and headed to London.

Despite an explicit promise by the Conservative party that they would ban the live exports of animals, the Kept Animals Bill would bring about an export ban of animals for fattening and slaughter; the critical piece of legislation has sat in Parliament for almost two years. One of the main reasons that Spencer stated for the dismissal of the Bill was that it would be faster to tackle each topic with single-issue legislation, but it has already taken two years to gain very little progress.

Twenty activists gathered in Central London, adorning sheep masks, to demand that the Kept Animals Bill is reinstated and not only that but made inclusive of ALL species for ALL purposes. The current writing of the Bill would only ban exports of animals who are destined for fattening and slaughter, but this will not protect any bird or large animals for breeding purposes.

Spencer stated that live exports haven't occurred since 2020, but we know this is untrue. In 2021, thousands of pigs were flown to China for breeding, revealing how many animals will not be protected under the previously proposed Kept Animals Bill.

We are calling on Rishi Sunak to use his position of power to finally create impactful change for animals, something that his party has promised. Animals face arduous journeys for many hours and in extreme weather conditions, and this MUST be banned! We need an effective live export ban that will protect ALL animals.

Check out our photos below from the protest (full album here), and if you haven't done so already, please sign our petition today.

As always,

For the animals.