Through supporting this cause I became aware that the UK was exporting live animals to Europe for slaughter and the conditions these animals were forced to endure were unspeakably cruel and quite frankly not fit for purpose. A TV report on the live transport of sheep which showed the poor creatures staggering out of a truck exhausted and gasping for water while being herded into the slaughterhouse made me give up eating beef, pork, mutton and any other animal overnight. I was so distressed by their obvious suffering and I couldn’t help but draw parallels of other beings, this time human, being forcibly herded onto trucks and transported hundreds of miles to their death.
In more recent times I have also supported the efforts of charities like Soi Dog in Thailand that fight against the dog meat trade. Again the sight of dogs literally crammed on top of each other in small square metal cages where they cannot even move constantly haunts me. The sight of dogs cowering in dark rooms looking at the walls hoping not to be chosen by the cruel slaughter men with clubs in their hands is especially horrendous.
Against this backdrop of horror one tiny bright beacon timidly shone out. Whatever your politics and whatever you may think of Boris Johnson, his wife Carrie was a committed animal welfare supporter and her influence was undoubtedly instrumental in bringing about the government’s Animal Welfare Bill which among many other things legislated against live exports for slaughter. The Animal Welfare Bill was specifically in the Conservative manifesto at the last election and was one of the few things I wholeheartedly supported. This bill had nearly cleared the House of Commons and only had a few hours of debating left when it was suddenly and inexplicably pulled by the Sunak government. It transpired that the government had been worried that the Opposition might table some amendments to the bill, which would strengthen the anti-foxhunting laws and make it far more difficult for those that are still hunting today to hide behind certain loopholes.
The total injustice of this action has angered me beyond words. We have had to fight so long for such small progress on animal welfare, one baby step at a time and just as we were reaching the top of the mountain like Sisyphus pushing our historically ground breaking boulder up the unforgiving rock face it has slipped from our grasp and rolled all the way back down to the bottom again.
I have added my voice to countless petitions demanding the return of the Animal Welfare Bill and in particular I have written to my MP to register my total disgust at this government’s lies. I made it plain that pandering to the rich and influential, who were concerned about being able to carry on hunting foxes and thereby abandoning the welfare of countless animals was beyond the pale and would cost this government dear in lost votes. The vast majority of people in this country are against fox hunting and a sizable quantity care about animal welfare. Rich fox hunting toffs might be disproportionately influential but they are few in overall numbers and their vote only counts as much as mine at the ballot box.