The Scottish Government

« Previous | Contents | Next »

Listen

Animal Health and Welfare Strategy for Great Britain: The Evidence Base

Chapter 7: Animal welfare

7.1 Animal welfare advice for farmers

7.1.1 Defra and the Devolved administrations produce their own best practice guidance on animal welfare and provide advice to farmers, managers and stock-keepers in variety of different ways - meetings, farm demonstrations, workshops, booklets, leaflets, articles or notices in farming journals, on-line advice, CD-ROMS etc. The aim of the advice is to increase awareness within the livestock industry of important animal welfare issues and to provide guidance on the latest ideas and developments pertinent to those issues.

7.1.2 Examples of some of the recent campaigns run by Defra include:

Poultry

• Best management practice to reduce feather pecking and cannibalism in laying hens

• 'Planning for the Future' - working within the proposed EU Broiler Directive (on health and welfare)

Ruminants

• Control of sheep parasites - including sheep scab

• Sheep lameness / foot rot

• Caring for the dairy beef calf

• Reducing injuries to dairy cows (including a dedicated CD ROM on the subject)

Pigs

• The new Pig Welfare Code

7.1.3 A central part of these Defra campaigns is the use of 'feedback' sheets which delegates are asked to complete at the end of each individual event. The sheets provide those attending with the opportunity to comment on the usefulness / appropriateness of the particular event, and provides invaluable feedback on how future campaigns might be improved. Analysis of the feedback received is presented in Table 7.1.1.

Table 7.1.1 Analysis of two of the key performance indicators from the feedback sheets for animal welfare campaigns completed by the end of February 2004

Source: Defra
* Numbers attending generally reflect the structure of the particular sector of the industry - e.g. the poultry sector has fewer, larger holdings than (for example) the dairy sector.

7.2 Research into animal welfare

7.2.1 Defra's animal welfare research programme in conjunction with those of other funders helps provide a sound scientific basis on which to consider possible improvements to welfare legislation and codes of recommendations. In 2003/04 the Defra budget for research and development work on animal welfare was approximately 3.5 million, compared with 3.4 million in 2002/03. In 2003/04 SEERAD spent an estimated 0.8 million on research into welfare in farming systems and the physiological basis of behaviour. In 2003 the Biotechnology and Biological Research Council provided 12 grants worth 2.2 million for research into animal welfare.

7.3 Livestock welfare inspections

7.3.1 There are several mechanisms in place for the surveillance of animal welfare on farms, at markets, during transport and at slaughter. They involve input from a number of organisations including the SVS, Local Authorities, the Meat Hygiene Service, the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA), the Scottish Agricultural College, the RSPCA, The Scottish Executive's Agricultural Staff and Defra personnel including Egg Marketing Inspectors, and field officers. Some inspections occur as the result of complaints, others are random or are targeted at particular premises. Good co-ordination between all these various groups is essential to ensuring effective enforcement of legislation and handling of disease.

7.3.2 As a result of EU Directive 98/58 in 1999, the European Commission also requires Member States to report on welfare inspections on a biannual basis for which there are specific requirements.

7.3.3 Local Authorities enforce legislation relating to animal welfare on farm, in transport and at markets. They also enforce any emergency powers that need to be brought in to deal with outbreaks of notifiable diseases. They are also responsible for issuing licences to premises such as

riding schools, animal boarding establishments, dog breeding establishments and pet shops. In order to help prevent problems developing they may offer advice and assistance with matters relating to current animal health and welfare legislation. The Local Authorities use a programme of inspections, advice, random checks, response to complaints and liaison with other authorities to enforce the regulations. They are required to enforce breaches of animal health and welfare legislation, and in the most extreme cases this may mean prosecution of offenders.

7.3.4 In 1998 the Better Regulation Task Force issued their Enforcement Concordat which sets out the principles of good enforcement practice in terms of policy and procedures. The Concordat has been adopted by local authorities and other enforcement agencies around the country and its principles built into the day-to-day enforcement activities.

7.4 State Veterinary Service inspections

7.4.1 The SVS checks compliance with legislation and statutory Codes of Recommendation for the Welfare of Livestock. Both random and targeted visits are made to:

• farms to check on animal welfare on farm and welfare at slaughter for seasonal poultry trade

• markets

• abattoirs

• assembly points and ports for welfare during transport, especially portal checks, and border inspection posts for import and export movements

7.4.2 The welfare criteria assessed on farm cover staffing, inspection, disease treatment, records, housing, environment, equipment, freedom of movement, feed and water, mutilations and breeding procedures. A scoring system of A to D has been developed as below:

A: Full compliance with legislation and the code

B: Compliance with legislation, but not the code

C: Non compliance with legislation and code

D: Non compliance with legislation and code, unnecessary pain and/or unnecessary distress evident.

7.4.3 The detailed results of the inspections are only available in their current format from 2000 onwards, and the normal inspection system was severely disrupted by the Foot and Mouth Disease Outbreak of 2001. Table 7.4.1 presents figures on the total number of on-farm inspections conducted between 1999 and 2002.

7.4.4 More detailed information for 2003 will be available in the 2003 Report of the Chief Veterinary Officer that will be published in 2004. In 2002 a total of 4,519 on-farm inspections were carried out in Great Britain with 28 per cent found to be non compliant with legislation. These inspections involved over 34 thousand checks across the 11 criteria that can be assessed as part of a welfare inspection. The sheep/goat, dairy and beef enterprises were more likely than other enterprises to be visited as the result of a complaint. Beef enterprises had the highest percentage of failures to comply with legislation (i.e. C or D scores). Poultry enterprises were the most compliant with the legislation. Table 7.4.2 gives more information about on-farm inspections carried out in Great Britain in 2002.

Table 7.4.1 Number of on-farm welfare inspections conducted in Great Britain by the State Veterinary Service

Source: Defra, Animal Welfare Veterinary Division and reports of the Chief Veterinary Officer (1999 to 2003)

7.4.4 More detailed information for 2003 will be available in the 2003 Report of the Chief Veterinary Officer that will be published in 2004. In 2002 a total of 4,519 on-farm inspections were carried out in Great Britain with 28 per cent found to be non compliant with legislation. These inspections involved over 34 thousand checks across the 11 criteria that can be assessed as part of a welfare inspection. The sheep/goat, dairy and beef enterprises were more likely than other enterprises to be visited as the result of a complaint. Beef enterprises had the highest percentage of failures to comply with legislation (i.e. C or D scores). Poultry enterprises were the most compliant with the legislation. Table 7.4.2 gives more information about on-farm inspections carried out in Great Britain in 2002.

Table 7.4.2 Number of on-farm welfare inspections carried out in Great Britain in 2002, the percentage of inspection failures and the percentage of visits that were due to complaints

Source: Defra, Animal Welfare Veterinary Division

7.4.5 The fact that the outcome of 28 per cent of inspection visits is a failure to comply with legislation does not mean that almost a third of the herd is suffering from poor welfare. Inspections are not totally random - almost a third are in response to complaints and other visits can be targeted towards premises where vets, from experience, think there is more likely to be a welfare problem. This means that premises with welfare problems are more likely to be inspected and are therefore more likely to fail the inspection than on average. Work is currently underway to select premises for inspection on a more random basis and to identify on a statistical basis those premises more likely to have animal welfare problems.

7.4.6 Figure 7.4.1 shows the results of the SVS assessments made for each of the welfare criteria inspected. The criteria most often found not to comply with legislation were treatment of disease (15 per cent of assessments received a C or D score) and record keeping (14 per cent of assessments received a C or D score).

Figure 7.4.1: Overall results of SVS assessments of the welfare of animals on farm in Great Britain in 2002

Source: Defra, Animal Welfare Veterinary Division

7.4.7 In addition to the farm inspections the SVS also carried out 6,815 welfare inspections at markets in 2002. Less than 2 per cent of the visits found failure to comply with legislation.

7.5 The RSPCA and SSPCA

7.5.1 The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) covers the whole range of animal protection in England and Wales. The Society is involved in practical welfare, law enforcement as well as campaigning and education. It employs veterinary experts and consultants in the care and treatment of farm livestock, wildlife, domestic pets and animals used in research. In England and Wales in 2002 the RSPCA investigated over 114 thousand complaints and took over 1.4 million telephone calls. There were over 320 uniformed RSPCA inspectors and just under 150 Animal Collection Officers. There was a change in how cruelty cases/prosecutions were recorded between 2000 and 2001, but it can be seen from Figure 7.5.1 that dogs account for the largest proportion of cases each year.

Figure 7.5.1: Number of cruelty cases (1997 to 2000) and prosecutions (2001 to 2002) pursued by the RSPCA in England and Wales, by type of animal

Source: RSPCA

7.5.2 Some of the cases investigated do not lead to prosecutions. Some cases may result in defendants being prosecuted on more than one charge. Table 7.5.1 gives details of the prosecutions pursued by the RSPCA in England and Wales between 1997 and 2002. Prosecutions in 2002 resulted in 2 thousand convictions and cost the RSPCA 4.4 million.

Table 7.5.1 RSPCA conviction and prosecution statistics for England and Wales

Source: RSPCA

7.5.3 The Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA) is responsible for the whole range of animal protection in Scotland. The Society is involved in practical welfare, law enforecement as well as campaigning and education. In Scotland in 2003 the SSPCA investigated over 30 thousand complains and took over 88 thousand telephone calls. There are around 50 uniformed SSPCA inspectors supported by 10 ambulance drivers and 6 auxialiary Inspectors. The Scottish SPCA is a reporting agency to the Crown, therefore the Society reports cases direct to the Procurator Fiscal rather than pursuing cases as is the case for the RSPCA. More information can be found in on the back pages of the SSPCA Annual Report the lnk to which is attached - http://www.scottishspca.org/campaign/AR%202003.doc.pdf

Table 7.5.2 SSPCA statistics

Source: SSPCA

« Previous | Contents | Next »