30 October 2008 - The South East’s Green MEP has paid tribute to the commitment and hard work of a Kent animal campaign group today, after its monitoring of livestock shipments at Dover led to an EU investigation and subsequent damning report to which the UK must now respond.

Kent Against Live Exports (KALE) alerted Green MEP Caroline Lucas to the potential breaches of existing EU law on the transport of live animals through the Dover harbour; she then took the campaign to the EU through a series of formal complaints to EU Commissioners.

KALE, the Kent based volunteer- run organisation which campaigns against the export of live farm animals to mainland Europe, has spent the last two years documenting the movement of livestock through the port of Dover, uncovering numerous breaches of EU animal welfare law.

When their pleas for action were ignored by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), KALE and the Green MEP took their efforts to Europe; the EU Commission for Health and Consumer Affairs in Brussels promptly sent a team of officials from the Food and Veterinary Office department (FVO) to investigate.

Dr Caroline Lucas MEP, who is also Vice President of the RSPCA and VP of the European Parliament’s Animal Welfare Intergroup, said: "I wholeheartedly welcome the conclusions of the FVO report, which confirms that welfare standards of farm animals being transported at Dover fall far short of EU regulations – if only the UK’s own DEFRA had shown such concern.

"The report clearly identifies a number of breaches of EU Regulation 1/2005 on ‘the protection of animals during transport and related operations’. It found a lack of adequate contingency plans, a lack of an unloading facility for animals in the vicinity, and a general non-compliance with welfare requirements, including lack of cleaning and disinfection of the vehicles used in livestock transport."

Dr Lucas concluded: "KALE’s continued commitment and hard work on the campaign against long distance transport of live farm animals has really paid off. With this report, the EU is sending a strong message to the UK authorities that more must be done to safeguard the welfare of live animals being transported in and out of Dover.

"Farm animal welfare standards in the EU are far from perfect, and this report represents a small step along a very long road. The Green Party continues to call for a complete end to all live animal exports, both within and beyond the EU, to prevent unnecessary suffering."

Mark Johnson, EU correspondent for KALE, said: "Now that the EU / FVO report has been published, KALE trusts that the UK authorities will now take note of the suggestions and recommendations, and fully implement procedures to ensure that we (KALE) do not continue to see animal suffering as regularly witnessed by our monitors and observers at Dover harbour.

"KALE, as always, will be independently monitoring all animal shipments from Dover, and if we find that the proposed recommendations are still not being implemented, we will go back to Brussels asking for the EU to take legal action against the UK for continual non-compliance with EU regulations on animal welfare".

ENDS

Notes to Editors

KALE has obtained access to the twenty-four page (FVO) inspection report, number 2008/7690 titled "Animal welfare during transport". It can be viewed at http://ec.europa.eu/food/fvo/ir_search_en.cfm by entering the inspection report number (2008/7690).