MEPs urge Europe to enforce welfare laws

Both SNP MEP Alyn Smith and Lib Dem MEP George Lyon have tabled amendments to a European Parliament agriculture committee report on animal welfare which has been drafted by Swedish member Marit Paulsen.

Smith believes one of the reasons animal welfare reports keep coming before the European Parliament is because there is a lack of proper enforcement of current regulations which were brought in during 2005.

Lyon stated: "There are still too many horror stories of pigs and horses being transported across Europe with no food, water or rest stops because of a failure to police the trade properly.

"Improving animal welfare across Europe is very important but the commission must realise that the key issue is not more rules and regulations but a renewed commitment to the enforcing of the current ones, especially in relation to transport."

Smith feared that the paper from Paulsen would trigger action by John Dalli the new EU health commissioner who has already expressed a wish to see a commission proposal on animal welfare coming forward at some point in the coming year.

While Dalli has given no clue as to his preferred content, it is widely anticipated any new proposal is likely to place more onerous restrictions on those transporting animals, causing real problems for those in Scotland's island and peripheral regions.

Smith considered it "fundamentally unfair that Scotland's livestock industry is being penalised for the lack of compliance towards the existing EU regulations by other member states".

He accepted that it was vital that animals were transported in as humane a way as possible but any further tightening of the existing regulation could have precisely the opposite effect.

"Put frankly, many regions will not be able to transport their animals at all, or at least not legally," he said.