ADVOCATES FOR ANIMALS' LATEST NEWS RELEASE - NEW WELFARE MANIFESTO LAUNCHED - Tuesday 07 November 2006

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From: News [mailto:news@advocatesforanimals.org]
Sent: Tuesday, November 07, 2006 12:28 PM
To: news@advocatesforanimals.org
Subject: ADVOCATES FOR ANIMALS' LATEST NEWS RELEASE - NEW WELFARE MANIFESTO LAUNCHED - Tuesday 07 November 2006

 

NEWS RELEASE

 

Tuesday 7th November 2006 - For Immediate Use

 

DEMOCRACY MEANS GIVING EVERYONE A VOICE, SAYS SCOTTISH ANIMAL PROTECTION ORGANISATION

 

NEW WELFARE MANIFESTO LAUNCHED

 

Advocates for Animals has launched its Animal Welfare Manifesto, six months before Scots go to the polls for the Scottish Parliament and local authority elections in May 2007. The Manifesto is being made available to voters, to councillors in local authorities, to Members of the Scottish Parliament in 2006, and to all candidates for election in May 2007, to encourage everyone to make Scotland a more animal-welfare friendly country in years to come.

 

The Manifesto highlights some of the things that councillors, the Scottish Executive and the Scottish Parliament can do for animal welfare. Issues concern animals kept as pets, used for food production, used in sport and entertainment, animals in the wild and those used in experiments.

 

The Manifesto calls on all Scottish political parties to appoint spokespeople on animal welfare, both at Scottish Parliament and local authority level.  Animal welfare should not be just an add-on to environment or rural affairs issues, but a policy area in its own right.  In most parties, policies are piecemeal and compartmentalised – although at its conference in Edinburgh on 4-5 November, the Scottish Green Party voted to consolidate its animal welfare policy in one unified section of its policy document.  Advocates hopes other parties will make similar provisions, and that their manifestos will reflect that approach.

 

Amongst the issues Advocates wants candidates for election to the Scottish Parliament to support are:

• A ban on the import of puppies from Irish puppy farms
• A review of the keeping of animals as pets with a prohibition on the keeping of those species whose welfare needs cannot be met
• Compulsory dog registration and investment in comprehensive animal control programmes
• A ban on the use of electric shock collars for dogs
• An end to long-distance transportation of farmed animals
• Licensing of all farmers
• Conversion of all battery cage units for laying hens to barn or free-range systems
• Production of welfare codes for farmed fish 
• A review of each mutilation currently performed on animals and prohibition of those deemed unacceptable
• A ban on the use of all animals, both wild and domesticated, in circuses
• An end to greyhound racing
• Welfare regulations for birds reared for the shooting industry
• A ban on all snares
• A review of the Conservation of Seals Act to deliver welfare benefits
• The inclusion of humane education in the curriculum

 

Advocates wants candidates for election to local authorities to support:

• The adoption of Animal Welfare Charters so that officials and citizens understand the importance of caring for animals in the community
• The integration by public authorities of animal welfare concerns into their procurement policies, particularly where catering services are concerned
• Initiatives to secure additional central funding for their animal health and welfare functions

Advocates Political Director, Libby Anderson, says: "We are delighted to launch our new Manifesto which highlights that animal welfare is a matter of mainstream public interest. Animal welfare issues featured in four out of the top five subjects raised in correspondence with the Environment and Rural Affairs Department over the last 12 months. On behalf of Scotland's animals, we are asking members of the public to question candidates in both Scottish Parliament and local authority elections on their animal welfare policies"

 

 

- ENDS -  

 

Notes to Editors

 

For interviews or further information please contact Advocates’ Political Director, Libby Anderson on 0131 225 6039 (07967 839137).

 

See the full Animal Welfare Manifesto at: http://www.advocatesforanimals.org/pdf/Manifesto2007.pdf