Animal Welfare in UK Law
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R (Compassion in World Farming Ltd) v Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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Approximately 44 billion broiler chickens are reared worldwide each year. There are two groups of broiler chickens: ordinary broilers, reared for their meat, and the breeding flock, whose role it is to produce the chicks which will be killed for their meat. In 2002 the United Kingdom reared approximately 810,000,000 broilers for meat and approximately 680,000,000 female breeder chicks.
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R (on the application of Langton) v Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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The new government published its policy, Bovine TB Eradication Programme for England, in July 2011. Cattle measures and good biosecurity alone would not be enough, it said, and unless the transmission of TB from badgers to cattle was reduced bTB would never be eradicated. The government was therefore committed to introducing a carefully managed and science-led policy of badger control.
There then followed in December 2011 publication of The Government's policy on Bovine TB and badger control in England. That document reviewed the findings of the RBCT and analysis of what had happened at its end. The RBCT demonstrated, it said, that the benefits of culling in the RBCT persisted far beyond the culling period, with the negative effects disappearing within 12–18 months after culling stopped.
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David Letherbarrow v Warwickshire County Council
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But reference was also made to RSPCA v Johnson [2009] EWHC 2702, in which, as in this case, the prosecution was bought under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. In Johnson this court (Pill LJ and Rafferty J) declined to hold that Donnachie established any principle of law and took the view that the prosecutor for the purposes of section 31 was the RSPCA's case manager given responsibility for making the important decision of whether to prosecute.
I agree with those observations of Pill LJ and, in my view, the particular terms of section 31(1) strongly support them. It creates a first alternative, a long stop time limit of 3 years and a second alternative, 6 months beginning with the date on which evidence which the prosecutor thinks is sufficient to justify the proceedings comes to his knowledge.
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Pro-Life Alliance v BBC
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Nevertheless the European Court of Human Rights unanimously found an infringement of Article 10, mainly (it seems) because of the monopoly positions enjoyed in Switzerland by a single public broadcasting corporation and a single company controlling television commercials. The judgment does not, with respect, give full or clear reasons for what seems to be a far-reaching conclusion.
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Mark Woodville Downes v Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
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It seems to me that the relevant principles to be drawn from these cases are as follows: (a) where a jurisdictional point is taken before the magistrates' court, then if the court declines jurisdiction that decision can be challenged either by judicial review or by way of case stated (see Clerkenwell Justices, supra); (b) where such a point is taken and a court accepts that it has jurisdiction then there is nothing in Streames to suggest that the magistrates' court has the power to state a case.
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Into the Void: International Law and the Protection of Animal Welfare
Animal welfare is not currently regulated by a single, comprehensive international law instrument. This article considers prevailing frameworks in international law that address animal welfare in s...
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KEYNOTE: Global Extinction and Animal Welfare: Two Priorities for Effective Altruism
Effective altruism should ultimately be for the promotion of aggregate welfare. Broad altruism does not confine welfare to humans only. Thus, two priorities for broad and effective altruism may inc...
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Wild Animal Welfare in International Law: The Present Position and the Scope for Development
Wild animal welfare is a global subject and yet international regulation and policy dealing with welfare is sparse and in places idiosyncratic. Nevertheless, there is potential to develop a compreh...
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Case C-336/19 Centraal Israëlitisch Consistorie van België: Animal welfare and freedom of religion
Article 13 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) explicitly provides for animal welfare. Animals are sentient beings, and thus the EU and Member States have an obligation to...
- Maximum Sentence For Animal Welfare Offences To Increase Significantly
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Red Tractor plans changes to retain, boost consumer trust
A food chain assurance system in the United Kingdom is to undergo an overhaul to maintain consumer trust following criticism aimed at it and incidents in the sector. Red Tractor is a food standards......... Tractor is a food standards program established in 2000 covering animal welfare, safety, traceability and environment protection and is managed ......
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UK MPs propose food standards amendment to Ag Bill
A parliamentary committee in the United Kingdom has put forward an amendment to the Agriculture Bill to protect food standards. Members of the cross-party Environment Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) ......... the move after a hearing with representatives from the agriculture, animal welfare and trade sectors this week. Members of Parliament (MPs) heard ......