England to Ban Animal Exports for Slaughter in European First

England to Ban Animal Exports for Slaughter in European First

Britain will become the first European country to ban the export of live animals for fattening and slaughter, British Environment Secretary George Eustice will announce.The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) said this announcement was part of a wider strategy to improve Britain's position on animal welfare and to cement it as a world leader. Around 6,400 animals were exported to Europe for slaughter in 2018, the most recent data on record.Globally, around two billion live animals are exported around the world, according to data from The UN's Food and Agricultural Organization, with live pigs from Poland to Denmark, chickens from the Netherlands to Thailand and sheep from Australia to Qatar some of the largest volume exports.In 2018, the United States exported about $872 million worth of live animals of all species, according to the Farm Journal, primarily to Mexico and Canada but Brazil, South Korea and China were all in the top five. This includes animals for slaughter, breeding and any other purpose.The European Union (EU) has a number of animal health requirements but, a European Commission statement says: "live animals are traded or imported every day in the European Union." Now the U.K. has left the