Live animal transport regulations not ‘fit for purpose’, large international study finds

A “fitness check” of five countries’ regulations intended to protect animals during transport found that not all of them are sufficient to fully protect animals during transport. The results of this interdisciplinary work involving animal welfare scientists and a law professor, who compared animal transport rules designed to protect the billions of animals transported on long journeys – in Australia, Canada , New Zealand, the EU (including the UK) and the US – highlighting serious failures.

The study, published in Royal Society Open Scienceand involving researchers from the Universities of Bristol, Essex and British Columbia (Canada), is the first comprehensive fitness check of live animal transport regulations in five English-speaking Western countries to assess whether the regulatory framework of a policy sector is fit for purpose. .

Live animal transport, which affects most farm animals at some point in their lives, is a stressful experience in which animals are often subjected to long periods of transport during which they are unable to drink, eat and to rest. For example, in Canada, some animals can be transported for 36 hours without food, water or rest.

The researchers studied four major risk factors associated with the transport of live animals – fitness for transport, duration of travel, climatic conditions and available space – and explored how regulations were structured to prevent animal welfare issues.

The results of this research showed that all countries could improve and chart key future directions for new policies. For example, no country imposes a maximum travel time for all animals, meaning animals can sometimes be transported for several days. Not all countries mandate regular rest stops for long journeys, but those that do often impose stopping times that are too short to allow for meaningful recovery.

Updating transport regulations based on the latest scientific knowledge would be an important step towards improving animal welfare during transport, further aligning livestock industries with the values societal.

The team also reviewed recent and proposed regulatory changes. These include changes being considered that have been announced but not yet translated into legislation or different options being considered. For example, in December 2023, a bill banning the export of livestock for slaughter and fattening from Great Britain (i.e. England, Scotland and the Wales, but not Northern Ireland) has been presented to Parliament, but can only target a minority of countries. animals exported.

Dr Ben Lecorps, co-author of the study and professor of animal welfare at Bristol Veterinary School, said: “Our findings indicate that regulations are often insufficient or too vague to ensure they are suitable to their objective. All countries studied fail to guarantee adequate protection. While this does not mean that all transported animals will suffer serious harm, major risk factors such as traveling too long or traveling in hot weather are not addressed satisfactorily.”

Dr Eugénie Duval, co-author of the study and lecturer in law at Essex Law School, added: “While not necessarily reflecting the latest scientific evidence, some regulations are more specific than others.

“If we were to make the most of each regulatory framework (e.g. fitness for transport in Canada; provide species-specific thresholds for vehicle interior temperature in the EU) and implement some of the proposals made by some countries (e.g. a ban on exports outside the EU borders: proposal by some EU member states), the resulting regulations would be a big step forward towards ensuring welfare animals during transport.