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Animal advocates, experts and Members of Parliament call for stronger federal transport regulations

Every winter the issue of farmed animal transport makes news headlines across the country and this winter is no exception.

Last week, during the extreme cold that hit parts of the country, CTV Toronto reported (CTV News at Noon, Jan.31, 2019, story starts at 2:45 minutes) on concerns from Toronto Pig Save advocates about the welfare of pigs being transported to Fearmans Pork slaughterhouse in Burlington in -35 degree Celsius weather.

The reality is that Canada’s federal regulations permit farmed animals to be transported for long periods of time without food, water, rest or adequate protection from extreme weather. The result is that approximately 14 million farmed animals arrive dead, dying or injured at federally inspected slaughterhouses each year. 

The Vancouver Humane Society (VHS) and other animal protection organizations, advocates and experts have long called on the federal Ministry of Agriculture to strengthen Canada’s archaic transport regulations, which were last updated in 1977. Finally, in December of 2016 the Ministry released draft amendments to the regulations, but these offered only minor improvements and investigations revealed the amendments were directly influenced by the livestock industry, which strongly opposes any changes.

Meanwhile, the regulations have still not been finalized and animals continue to suffer during transport.

Join us in calling on the federal government to prioritize the release of significantly improved, evidence-based transport regulations.

Contact your Member of Parliament and the federal Minister of Agriculture, the Hon. Lawrence MacAulay, and let them know this issue is important to you! See the coalition letter to the Minister as a reference (please be sure to personalize your letter) and for a complete list of signatories.