Celebrating landmark law on animal welfare sentience
The Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill has passed its final hurdle in the House of Lords. Once the Bill receives Royal Assent, the new law will be known as the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022. This recognises many animals as sentient beings, including decapod crustaceans and cephalopods (e.g. octopi).
We are proud to be part of the Better Deal for Animals, an alliance of 50 of the UK’s leading animal protection organisations – also including the RSPCA, Humane Society International UK, Compassion in World Farming, FOUR PAWS UK and Wildlife and Countryside Link. We welcome the passage of the Bill. The Better Deal for Animals was formed in 2019 to campaign for reinstating the recognition of animal sentience in UK law. Animal sentience was the only piece of EU legislation that was not transposed when the UK formally left the EU on 1st January 2021.
Commenting on the passage of the Bill on 7th April 2022, our Executive Director, Dan Crossley said:
“Sentience matters. We’re delighted that the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill will soon pass into law. This fulfills an important manifesto commitment the Conservative party made ahead of the 2019 UK General Election.”