Industry must work together on animal transport

The extension of Defra’s consultation on animal transport regulations to February 25 should be used to consult with the industry to allow a joint approach to be taken in any new legislation.

Calling for a more inclusive approach – involving those with direct experience and relevant expertise to focus and design a practical and workable piece of legislation, Ruminant Health and Welfare (RH&W) has stated that any regulatory changes should be evidence-based and rooted in science.

The organisation, which was set up to work with industry and governments to influence collective action and secure the policy framework and funding required to prevent, manage or control disease and welfare challenges across the ruminant sectors is headed up by former NFU Scotland president, Nigel Miller.

He said that any new standards being introduced should be subject to a welfare benefit assessment and a cost benefit analysis before being formalised:

“Safeguarding the welfare of animals should be the primary focus of any regulatory change, recognising that the existing European regulatory framework has underpinned high operating standards within the UK.”Appropriate regulation needed to be supported by effective monitoring and enforcement, said Miller who argued that some of the welfare problems identified in other European jurisdictions were the result of non-compliance and weak enforcement, rather than regulatory failure.Welcoming the extension of the truncated consultation period he added:

“However, concerns remain that the consultation was launched without a clear evidence base to support much of the detail, and that impact assessments were also incomplete.”

But he expressed doubts that the limited extension granted to allow industry, expert, and professional bodies to input to the process would resolve these concerns.And Miller expressed fears that the while it would be useful to align regulatory standards across the UK, the approach taken in the consultation paper failed to factor in the needs of peripheral regions, and islands:

“Without partnership working across the four nations, perverse outcomes or regulatory fragmentation are inevitable - collaboration must now be a priority,” he said.

The proposed ban on live exports would also have far-reaching consequences, which the government must plan for – including building regional abattoir capacity.

“Defra should, if a trade ban is implemented, take responsibility for the impact on businesses and support the development not only of sustainable high welfare rearing systems but markets for the classes of stock which have previously been reared in Europe.”And while the group had welcomed the introduction of temperature monitoring and forced ventilation to long distance transport vehicles, it expressed fears that the proposals ignored different abilities to tolerate both high and low temperatures by different species and age groups:

“Young animals including calves and lambs have a reduced tolerance of extreme environmental conditions. A single benchmark temperature range for conventional transport is therefore unlikely to deliver benefit across all species.”

And calling for a more inclusive approach to drawing up new legislation Miller added:.“We believe time should be taken to use that resource to take the development process forward.”