A billion animals are killed each year in the United Kingdom by us humans. They are either reared for food or sport, killed in the wild or experimented on before being slaughtered.
All of us have a responsibility to ensure that these and the other animals in our care are treated well and killed humanely. Where possible we should eliminate unnecessary animal suffering.
Local Authorities have their part to play in creating a more humane and compassionate world. Many of their areas of responsibility involve animals and policies can and should be introduced to reduce animal suffering.
Many Councils have already adopted Animal Welfare Charters however too many have not and we have produced the LAWS Charter as a tool for those which have not. It is being made available as a draft document that can be adapted for the type of Authority intending to use it.
Following our discussions and the day conference held in December 2011 in Oxford we are pleased to present this local government charter.
We would like to thank Chris Fagan our local government officer for his work in preparing, presenting and producing the draft document at the day conference and the work that he has done since in finalising it. Thanks also to the members who took part in the Policy Conference and also the LAWS members and animal welfare groups who submitted comments and proposals.
Thanks also to Nicki Brooks, Mark Glover and the other members of LAWS Executive Committee for their contributions to the final document.
We hope you find our policy document interesting and any comments you may wish to make on it would be most welcomed.
This document is being circulated to all Local Authorities and we very much hope that they will take the steps necessary to bring in their own version of an Animal Welfare Charter as soon as possible. If they already have a charter then we hope that this document can be used to update it.
To download a copy (PDF) click on the image below.
