Petition · past parliament

Include Animal Sentience In The EU Withdrawal Bill

Rejected 18 signatures

What the petition asks

The House of Commons voted to scrap EU legislation that sees animals as sentient beings (having feelings & emotions)

Exiting the EU, domestic pets will be protected by the Animal Welfare Act 2006. Wild animals - or those in any form of captivity, including laboratories - will not be protected
If this goes through it could lead to loss of animal welfare standards such as:

-Labs free to test on animals with no pain relief as much cruelty as they wish

-Less and less regulated farming

-Hunting reintroduced

-The reintroduction of battery cages

Since 1999 animals have been regarded as sentient beings, not just agricultural goods.

We urge the Government to pay full regard to animal wellbeing in future legislation and not view animals as commodities.

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 18
Status Rejected
Rejected 24 Nov 2017

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.