Post-Brexit pets face forced separation from their owners

The Political Animal Lobby is deeply concerned that the chaos surrounding Brexit is very bad indeed for animals. We need your help now to make sure they are not innocent victims of a political battle that could bring them untold hardship.

All sorts of animals are likely to suffer.

Pets who travel to Europe with their families are early victims. Current pet passports will not be accepted post-Brexit; the British government has warned that pet owners should start planning four months before travelling. This means that for anyone planning a trip with their pets at Christmas time, it’s already too late.

The hardship for pets and owners who travel is terribly real and very serious. Pets must undergo mandatory blood tests that cost £90 per pet, the paperwork is time consuming, and holidays will become more difficult to arrange and finance. Many people will not be able to comply with the new rules. Adopting dogs from Europe will become harder.

Pets will suffer forced separation from their families, and the harsh truth is that pets are more likely to be abandoned!

The scale of the problem is huge. A million pets have travelled with their owners from the UK to Europe on Eurostar alone since 2013.

We need your help to engage with the authorities to make sure this does not happen. 80 percent of current animal welfare legislation comes from EU law. If the UK abruptly leaves Europe, as planned by the Conservative government, a raft of new legislation will be required for countless issues.

We need your help to ensure that animal welfare is not placed on hold while other issues take priority.

We also have massive concerns about the welfare of farm animals. Britain will have to urgently negotiate new trade agreements which will almost certainly be made with countries with lower animal welfare standards. Britons could be buying beef from the USA where cattle are given growth hormones, and pork which is produced from pigs raised in sow stalls where the sow is unable to even turn around. Then, there is the problem of chickens as many countries still allow battery cages that are inherently cruel to the fowls.

If people eat meat, they will have no way of knowing how much cruelty is involved in producing it

Abusing animals is cheaper than raising them in reasonable conditions and will be cheaper on the supermarket shelves. Economists predict financial hard times for the UK after Brexit, and people will naturally lean towards cheaper products. The consequences are obvious: poorer animal welfare and poorer UK farmers.

These are just some of the animal issues that Brexit raises, there are many others and they all need our attention. PAL is working to support MPs and prospective MPs from any party, who are animal friendly and prepared to fight for laws and regulations that protect animals.

In these uncertain times, we urgently need your help to ensure that animals are not casualties in post-Brexit times.

Please donate today to ensure that PAL will be in a position to ensure that animal welfare does not become forgotten when Brexit happens, and the regulations protecting animals are not wiped out overnight.

For the animals,

Andrea Matthee
Lead Campaigner
Political Animal Lobby

PS: The one thing we can be certain of in these troubled times is that post-Brexit animals are going to need our help. If you care about animals at all, this is the time to stand up and be counted. Please donate to PAL now so we can fight for what is right for animals.