AM backs ban on live export (From Penarth Times)

AM backs ban on live export

A PENARTH politician is backing the campaign to ban the export of live- stock to Europe for slaughter.

Lorraine Barrett, AM for Cardiff South and Penarth, has called for a stop to the cruel export of livestock for meat.

She said: "There is no need for this kind of cruelty. The animals can travel for up to 50 hours in a cramped lorry with very little water. It is cruel and has to stop."

She added that the animals regularly died on the journey and that the welfare of the animals had to be addressed.

She also said that she would be making representations to the rural affairs minister in the assembly so he could pursue every avenue to stop the practice.

Compassion In World Farming is the pressure group which is running the campaign to stop the live exports.

Political and legal director of Compassion in World Farming, Peter Stevenson, reiterated the words of Mrs Barrett.

He said: "The animals arrive at their destination physically unwell and often have broken limbs.

"Some of the livestock will collapse and die as soon as they leave the lorry."

He added that the animals would be slaughtered within two or three days of arrival and would suffer even in the slaughter.

In 1999 at Bari port in Italy, 100 animals had died by the time they reached the port.

Only 10 percent of animals are exported from the UK in this way and most livestock are sheep.