Petition · past parliament
Repeal the decision to exclude animal sentience in the EU Withdrawal Bill.
Rejected
21 signatures
What the petition asks
Scientific evidence increasingly supports the notion that humans and other animals are on a spectrum of capabilities, and that humans have opportunities and even imperatives to recognize animals’ potential for emotion, for pleasure and for pain.
Non-human animals have the neuroanatomical, neurochemical, and neurophysiological substrates of conscious states along with the capacity to exhibit intentional behaviours. Consequently, the weight of evidence indicates that humans are not unique in possessing the neurological substrates that generate consciousness. Non-human animals, including all mammals and birds, and many other creatures, including octopuses, also possess these neurological substrates. David Edelman, Philip Low, Christof Koch
Why it was rejected
There was already a petition about this issue. Duplicates are rejected so signatures collect in one place.
Timeline
| 21 Nov 2017 | Petition opened for signatures |
| 24 Nov 2017 | Rejected by the Petitions Committee |
Key facts
Signatures
21
Status
Rejected
Rejected
24 Nov 2017
Follow this petition
Sign in to get an email when the government responds, a debate is scheduled or held, or the petition closes.
Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.