Animal welfare footprint

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Did you know?

  • The number of imported wild taken birds, as a proportion of the total trade into the UK and the EU The EU-wide ban on imports of wild birds has effectively ended the legal trade in wild caught CITES-listed birds. The trade in wild taken birds into the UK and EU as a whole has all but ceased.
  • Polling this year showed that three quarters of people believe that for a society to be truly civilised, animal welfare must be a key priority – a massive leap from 53% in 2006. In addition, 59% of people believe that animal welfare should be taken into consideration when shopping. This places animal welfare as high in people’s consideration as human rights, fair trade and the environment. One intriguing statistic – 70% of people say they would buy higher welfare chicken, but just 20% of chickens are bred this way in the UK.
  • The RSPCA believes that if children are to understand animals, they need to learn about welfare at school and for it to be an integral part of their formal education. An RSPCA survey of schools reveals that 88% schools in the UK provide at least one animal welfare lesson in a child’s time at the school. An opinion poll demonstrated that 86% of people believe that animal welfare should be taught at school.
  • Animals taken from the wild to supply pet shops and hobbyists in the UK and EU are potentially subject to suffering and death, whether before being exported, during transportation or once held in captivity. The number of wild-caught reptiles imported into the UK has risen dramatically to 36,789 – a six times more than in 2000. The trade in reptiles has been steadily increasing since over the last decade. This rise could partly be explained by the 2005 ban on importing wild birds into the EU, suggesting that bird trappers – and hobbyists – are focusing on importing reptiles instead.
  • Litter is responsible for the injury and death of thousands of animals each year, and fishing tackle is a significant part of this problem, causing painful injuries, internal blockages, poisoning and sometimes death. It is estimated that around 8000 swan rescues are thought to take place each year in Britain, with 3000 caused by fishing tackle. In 2008, calls to the RSPCA about swans and fishing tackle has slightly dropped as well as the number of swans admitted to RSPCA wildlife centres, however there is no significant long term changes in the proportion of swans being affected by fishing litter.
  • The death of dolphins and porpoises in fishing nets (‘by-catch’) is a real concern, with numbers remaining consistently high, thus posing a significant threat to their welfare and conservation. Of those stranded cetaceans post-mortemed in 2008, 7.3% were victims of by-catch. This is a considerable change as over the past 20 years, 20% of all stranded cetaceans were by-catch victims. The actual number of stranded cetaceans fell again in 2008, , which could be attributed to a number of reasons such as fishing effort, weather However, the actual number of by-caught individuals is likely to be higher, as most discarded carcasses never reach the beach.
  • Whilst vaccines help safeguard the health and welfare of many animals, this is only achieved at a considerable cost to other groups of animals used to assess the safety and effectiveness of these vaccines. The RSPCA believes more can and should be done to resolve this dilemma, by means of a concerted effort to develop tests that will replace or avoid the use of animals, substantially reduce the level of suffering and reduce the numbers of animals used. Although some work is already going on in this area, it is difficult to assess its effect because the numbers of animals used and levels of suffering in the different types of test is not published regularly.
  • Between July 2007 and June 2008, 2,046 scientific journals published four or more primary research articles, in English, that involved the use of animals. Journals can act as a driving force to improve standards worldwide, by refusing to publish papers describing research in which the benefits do not justify the harms to animals, or where the 3Rs were not implemented. Each year the RSPCA carries out unique research which, for 2008, revealed that 40% of the journals surveyed had no policy relating to the use of animals (despite them publishing in total more than 5000 articles related to animal use). Of those that did have such a policy, the majority were far less vigorous than the RSPCA would hope to see.
  • Fireworks can cause great distress to animals, from pets – who we may witness being scared – to farm animals and wildlife, which may suffer in silence. Complaints to the RSPCA regarding fireworks dropped in 2008, however this could be due to a number of reasons including the change in the UK classification of explosives which has meant that fireworks contain less flash powder so the bang produced is not as loud as it once was. The public are more knowledgeable about the suffering caused to their pets so are seeking more information via websites and organisations such as the RSPCA are producing more public awareness information before the fireworks season to help reduce the level of suffering to animals.
  • In 2008 about 75,000 unwanted healthy animals entered the care of the RSPCA, a rise on the previous five years. In 2007 and 2008, five of the biggest animal organisations in the UK rehomed around 150,000 animals indicating that the problem of unwanted pets is a massive country-wide problem. These figures represent a huge problem in terms of responsible pet ownership. The RSPCA believes that educating the public is a vital in reducing the number of unwanted animals coming into its care.
  • Animal fighting is a major concern to the RSPCA. Dog fighting, badger baiting and cock fighting are all illegal however they still continue with reports of incidents to the RSPCA continuing year on year. In particular dog fighting incidents have increased with regard to street fights involving young people using dogs such as Staffordshire Bull terriers to fight other dogs or intimidate the general public. Reports of both badger baiting/digging and cock fighting have remained steady although are all still occurring. It is difficult to paint a true picture of the problem however as both are shrouded in secrecy and difficult to discover. The RSPCA’s Special Operations Unit continues to work, often under cover, to detect fighting cases, however it is acknowledged that these figures are likely to provide only a mere snapshot of the true scale of the problem.
  • More than one million animals are used across the EU in tests to assess the safety of products such as new medicines, pesticides and industrial chemicals. Over the last 20 years, the proportion of non-animal test methods developed and accepted into formal test guidelines (OECD) has only increased overall very slightly (and has remained unchanged since last year). This is very disappointing to the RSPCA, particularly given that close to €100M has been invested since 2002 in the EU on research into alternatives.
  • The suffering of laboratory animals - its nature, level and duration - is a serious concern. In order to monitor progress in reducing this suffering through advances in the implementation of the 3Rs (replacement, reduction and refinement), meaningful and accurate information must be available on the level and nature of suffering actually experienced by each animal. Despite some progress in identifying better ways of reporting this, such information is currently not available.
  • Around 3,300 primates were used in scientific procedures in the UK in 2008, and over 10,000 across the European Union. There has been no obvious reduction over the last five years. The RSPCA believes everybody must accept ending primate use as a legitimate and essential goal and should do more to make significant progress towards achieving this.
  • Around 1.3 million piglets aged up to four weeks old died in the UK in 2008. While a certain level of mortality is to be expected, there is potential to significantly reduce this number. 2008 saw a slight increase in the proportion of piglets dying (13% compared to 12.6% in 2007). Mortality is influenced by a number of factors, including environment, health care, management, nutrition and genetics. But with some farms achieving a significantly lower mortality rate, the RSPCA believes an annual reduction of one per cent over the next five years is a realistic goal, saving the life of around 1.6 million piglets over that period.
  • Even prior to the high-profile campaigns by celebrity chefs and the RSPCA early in 2008, the proportion of meat chickens raised to higher-welfare standards was already rising at a rapid rate. In 2007 the number increased by 84.2 million birds, and the rise has continued in 2008 with an increase of 40 million birds being reared to higher-welfare standards or one in every five chickens. Between 2004 and 2008, the total number of chickens reared to higher-welfare standards has increased by 769.5 per cent.
  • The proportion of eggs produced in non-cage systems increased by 4% in 2008. This is one of the most significant year on year changes in a decade with 42% of eggs in the UK produced in free-range or barn systems. However, the majority of eggs produced in the UK are still from hens in cages.
  • Evidence indicates that transporting animals abroad for slaughter and fattening is both unnecessary and fraught with risk to animal health and welfare. Although 15,000 less animals were exported in 2008 than the previous year, around 445,660 are still being transported abroad. Within this, however, was a significant rise in the number of sheep exported particularly for further fattening purposes.
  • Animals used in research and testing can experience considerable distress and suffering. Animals are used across the EU to test chemicals, including those in household products. Consumers should try to ensure they only buy household products from companies who do not use animals in the development or testing of their products. Find out more