Today, the Government have announced our Action Plan for Animal Welfare, building on our existing world leading standards and going further than ever before to protect animals at home and abroad.

Now that we have left the EU, we have the freedom to go further in protecting our animals and reinforce our position as a global leader on animal welfare. That is why the Government have announced our new Action Plan for Animal Welfare, which will enshrine animal sentience in law, delivers on our manifesto commitment to ban the export of live animals for slaughter and fattening, and brings in new laws to tackle puppy smuggling.

The Action Plan for Animal Welfare also sets out how the Government will:

Improve welfare for pets by:

• tackling puppy smuggling through changes to import rules
• introducing compulsory microchipping for cats
• cracking down on pet theft through a new government taskforce
• banning remote controlled training e-collars

Protect wild animals by:

• making it illegal to keep primates as pets
• introducing new laws to crack down on illegal hare coursing
• supporting legislation to restrict the use of glue traps
• funding wildlife conservation projects both at home abroad

Protect animals abroad by:

• banning the import of hunting trophies from endangered animals
• banning the sale of ivory by implementing the Ivory Act this year
• prohibiting the import and export of detached shark fins to protect the iconic shark species
• exploring a ban on the sale of foie gras
• banning the advertisement in this country of unacceptable low-welfare animal practices abroad – such as elephant rides

Improve welfare for farmed animals by:

• ending the export of live animals for fattening and slaughter
• introducing new measures to improve welfare during transport
• giving the police more powers to protect farm animals from dangerous or out of control dogs
• examining the use of cages for poultry and farrowing crates for pigs
• improving animal welfare at slaughter
• incentivising farmers to improve animal health and welfare through future farming policy

Our Action Plan ensures that animal welfare will be at the very heart of Government policy decision making, building on our existing world leading standards as we go further than ever before to protect animals at home and overseas.

To view the Government’s full Action Plan for Animal Welfare, please visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/action-plan-for-animal-welfare.

For more information on the Action Plan for Animal Welfare, including comments from the Environment Secretary and the range of measures which the Government has introduced over the last decade to give the UK has a world-leading record on animal welfare, please visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-to-lead-the-way-on-animal-welfare-through-flagship-new-action-plan.