We’ll be there this Saturday (18th) to support Say No To Greyhound Racing In Scotland.

Get in touch with them on Facebook; @saynotowallyfordtrack for location details.

Supporters have been contacting us about the current consultation on amending the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006.

To put it plainly, the scope of this exercise is a slap in the face to us all. Human and non-human.

Rather than the desperately needed improvements that could have been introduced, we have suggestions such as fixed-penalties for “less serious” offences.

Justification for this idea includes sparing offenders the ordeal of a court appearance and a criminal record, and reducing the workload of the so-called justice system.

That’s how much our politicians really care.

The severity of cruelty that presently goes unpunished, or often uninvestigated, is staggering.

Despite government clarification in the document, we fear that “less serious” will end up including severe breaches. We believe that this tool will be misused by authorities looking to enforce legislation on the cheap.

Even the paltry increase in maximum sentencing’s a con act. We feel from experience that this is only being put forward as the Scottish Government is planning to scrap sentences under a year.

If the current maximum stayed in place this would effectively mean almost nobody would ever go to jail for harming an animal in Scotland.

Cruelty, neglect and downright sadism is going unchecked. No matter what you’re told by those in power and their pals, that’s the reality on the ground.

We would recommend contacting First Minister Nicola Sturgeon directly with views on how to strengthen the law; ceu@gov.scot

Scotland for Animals want to see;

All animals, including invertebrates, protected by law

A Maximum life sentence/ unlimited fine for animal cruelty

The creation of a dedicated Police Scotland unit to investigate animal cruelty and enforce legislation

The creation of a register for those convicted of cruelty

Statutory requirement for a multi-agency approach for reporting/ investigation

Scrapping of all time bars on prosecution

This is going to take more than patter and gestures from Holyrood. The whole system needs overhauled top to bottom.

Proper scope, proper prevention, proper enforcement, proper sentencing.

We’ll be at Lush, Buchanan St., Glasgow this Saturday (13th) to launch our campaign for real change.

Come in and find out how you can play your part in winning Scotland’s animals the protection they deserve.

Facial recognition technology is to be used in joint Scottish farming study to identify pigs’ emotional states.

It’s claimed that “By focussing on the pig’s face, we hope to deliver a truly animal-centric welfare assessment technique, where the animal can ‘tell’ us how it feels about its own individual experiences and environment.”, and that this will “reduce production costs by preventing impact of health issues on performance.”.

We’ll take a wild guess at how the pigs feel without the need for AI.

They’re miserable, they’re frightened and they’re devoid of hope.

And this is even before they’re carted off to the slaughterhouse.

It’s what happens when you take any sentient animal, human or non-human, and turn them into slaves and products.

Openly admitting the complex emotional and sensory capacity of a victim while profitting from their suffering, and their deaths.

This is where we are. It has to end.

The SNTWT team are getting a rough deal at the Cross-Party Group for Animal Welfare at the Scottish Parliament.

Sadly, the CPGAW long ago descended into farce, infested with shills and the cruelty lobby who ensure that real campaigners don’t have a chance.

This is a Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare which until very recently had the british association for shooting as secretariat.

This goes right to the heart of how industry and individuals are getting away with murder, literally, when it comes to Scotland’s animals.

104 million, 977 thousand+ animals slaughtered.

239 thousand+ cattle

1 million, 177 thousand+ sheep

961 thousand+ pigs

102 million, 600 thousand+ poultry

Does not include other species such as deer and goats, “game birds”, aquatic animals or animals exported for killing.

Great day at Glasgow Vegan Festival.

Thanks to Miracle’s Mission, and everybody supporting our calls for tougher sentencing for cruelty.

Get your tickets for November at  https://www.veganeventsuk.co.uk/glasgow-vegan-festival/

See you there.

At yesterday’s live exports demo Kay Hamilton, Dowager Duchess of Hamilton and SfA Spokesman John Patrick, approached MSPs to ask that they call for support for Zac Goldsmith’s amendment to the Agriculture Bill at Westminster.

Although we recognise that these are two distinct legislatures, we believe that if they truly care about a ban they would encourage constituents to approach their MPs to ensure the amendment’s success.

It was noted with concern that none of them (bar, to his credit, Colin Smyth) were even aware that the amendment was being proposed. Of even further concern was that on discovering this there appeared very little interest in it’s content.

Despite the shameful position of the Scottish Government, SNP Westminster Group and Scottish Conservatives, efforts are being made to bring about a ban on live exports.

Zac Goldsmith MP is moving an amendment to the Agriculture Bill to effectively end the trade. We need everybody to contact their MP and request that they support this.