FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER

PROGRAMMES

Until recently, chickens were legally protected from being caught and carried upside down by their legs. This protection matters: as chickens do not have a diaphragm when inverted they can struggle to breathe and suffer acute distress. Despite the law, handling chickens by their legs remained standard industry practice – and government codes of practice continued to allow it. Faced with this contradiction, we took legal action.

Rather than fixing the codes to comply with the law, the government chose to change the law itself – removing the prohibition and lowering protections for chickens and turkeys. That decision followed a consultation process we argue was unfair and predetermined. In July, the Court agreed we had an arguable case.

UPDATE

We faced the government in Court

This week we went to Court for our full hearing for our legal challenge over the government’s removal of welfare protections for chickens. We made our case before the Court, and it is now up to the judge to decide whether they agree with our arguments.

If the Court decides in our favour, they may quash the new law. If this occurs, the law would revert to prohibiting handling chickens by their legs, making the codes of practice unlawful again.

We are now waiting for the judgment, which may take a few months. We will keep you updated!

Help spread the word by sharing our story with your networks.

We’re incredibly grateful for the support already shown, including from fellow organisations as well as award-winning animal protection campaigner Wendy Turner Webster and TV presenter Kirsty Gallacher, who have been sharing our case on Instagram.

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Good news! Our case is making headlines!

The Justice Gap From sentient to silenced: The law that let chickens down

GB news Labour braced for legal battle over ‘cruel’ law change allowing controversial pre-slaughter treatment of billions of chickens

Farming UK High Court to hear legal challenge over removal of chicken handling rules

Poultry News Animal welfare law change to be challenged in court

The Grocer Animal welfare court battle over chicken handling

Business Mole Government Faces Lawsuit for Eliminating EU Animal Protection Law for Chickens

The Scottish Farmer Ministers to face High Court over chicken leg handling

Wicked Leeks The AGtivist: campaigners fight for change in law on cruel “chicken catching” practice

At the end of last year, we published the third edition of The Enforcement Problem – our most recent analysis of how animal protection laws are actually enforced across the UK. Using inspection data from 2024, we examined what happens on farms, at markets, at border control posts and during transport, alongside rates of non-compliance and enforcement action, including prosecutions.

What we found was worrying. Enforcement remains low, inconsistent and ineffective. Just 2.2% of farms across the UK were inspected. Of those that were checked, more than a quarter – 28.4% – were found to be in breach of welfare law. Yet only 2.2% of confirmed cases of non-compliance on farms resulted in prosecution. Even when concerns are raised, enforcement often fails to follow: only around half of all complaints about farm animal welfare led to an inspection at all.

UPDATE

Our analysis showed that the legal framework intended to protect farmed animals is being slowly weakened, both through inaction and dilution. That analysis is shaping our work as we move into the new year.

On 8 January, our Executive Director, Edie Bowles, explored the wider implications of this failure in an article for The Ecologist, Animal rights and legal wrongs. The piece set out why failures to enforce animal protection law don’t just harm animals – they undermine the rule of law itself. Animal protection law isn’t separate from the rule of law; it is a measure of it. And right now, that measure is falling short.

Read the article: The Ecologist Animal rights and legal wrongs

Our work is being recognised in the legal space!

The Animal Law Foundation has been nominated by LexisNexis for The Halsbury Award for Rule of Law!

We are delighted that respected and prestigious institutions like LexisNexis increasingly recognise that the rule of law is only meaningful if it applies to everyone. Excluding vulnerable groups, including animals, undermines it at its core.

Each year, farmed fish in the UK are exposed to harmful conditions. Fish are protected by law, but to date there has never been a single prosecution or formal notice issued in Scotland to address the numerous farmed fish welfare violations raised by various organisations and individuals.

After two years of sustained pressure from The Animal Law Foundation, change is finally underway for these too-often forgotten animals. Scotland has now committed to introducing official guidance setting out how fish welfare should be protected throughout their lives. For the first time, keepers and regulators will have clear, practical instructions on how to comply with the law. This will improve the enforcement of legal protections fish already have.

UPDATE

The Animal Welfare Strategy for England published in December last year commits the government to improving fish welfare in England, including through commissioning advice from the Animal Welfare Committee.

That’s why last month we wrote directly to the Committee setting out why official guidance is vital in England and the key role the AWC can have in making this happen. Clear, enforceable guidance would ensure existing legal protections are applied in practice – so that fish in both Scotland and England are better protected.

EVENTS

Twenty years of the Animal Welfare Act: Cause for celebration?

2026 marks the 20th anniversary of the Animal Welfare Act. In light of the evidence, including the damning data revealed in our 2024 The Enforcement Problem report, it is important to take a moment to reflect. While the Act remains a landmark piece of legislation, it is also one that demands honest reflection.

In January, we co-hosted an event with the League Against Cruel Sports at Simmons & Simmons to begin the process of doing exactly that.

Bringing together over 50 dedicated advocates working across animal protection, we asked a simple but urgent question: is the Act delivering the protection it promised?

When it came into force the Animal Welfare Act 2006 represented a major step forward. But two decades on its impact continues to be held back by three key weaknesses: 1) although the Act prohibits unnecessary suffering, many harmful practices persist where they are commercially profitable, 2) while the law requires animals’ needs are met- such as diet and housing, these standards often fail in practice and 3) the Act does not protect all animals, for example wild animals, animals used in laboratories and invertebrates remain excluded.

At the event, animal protection groups committed to confronting these weaknesses together.

PODCASTS

Hear and watch our Executive Director Edie Bowles on Ed Winters’ (also known as Earthling Ed) podcast series ‘The Disclosure Podcast’

In this episode, Edie and Ed discuss how the law is being used to protect animals, the battles being fought behind the scenes. Listen to the episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.

NEWS

Animal Sentience Committee raises welfare implications of legislative differences in the definition of ‘animals’ to the Government

The Animal Sentience Committee (ASC) has published correspondence comparing definitions of ‘animal’ across UK animal welfare legislation. It states that the discrepancies raised are not only unjustifiable on scientific grounds, they also reflect an important matter of principle – all animals deemed to be sentient should receive equivalent levels of protection, regardless of the context in which they are used by, or interact with, humans. In light of the welfare concerns raised by these discrepancies, the ASC recommended applying a consistent definition of animals across animal-related legislation, based on that contained in the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs launches two public consultations on banning cages for laying hens and tail docking of lambs

On 12 January, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) launched two public consultations seeking views from relevant stakeholders on a proposed ban on keeping laying hens, pullets and breeder layers in cages, as well as views on proposed changes to end castration and tail docking methods on lambs without pain relief. Both close on 9 March.

House of Commons moves to restrict protests at animal testing sites

On 14 January, an amendment to the Public Order Act 2023 – which was brought before the house by the policing minister, Sarah Jones in November – passed by 301 votes in favour to 110 against. This change will mean animal testing sites are now classed as ‘key infrastructure’ which will hand authorities more  power against protesters who ‘deliberately or recklessly’ disrupt them with penalties of up to 12 months in prison.