Comedian Diane Morgan Demands Action on Neglected Animal Laws

The After Life star and comedian behind mockumentary programme ‘Cunk on Earth’, featuring fan-favourite character, Philomena Cunk, urges the public to help animals who suffer every day in farms and slaughterhouses across the UK.

06/02/2023 Updated: 16/04/2024

Award-winning comedian, Diane Morgan, has urged the public to join Animal Equality in calling on the Government to fix its broken animal protection system.

Commenting in a video to her followers, Diane said “Cows, pigs, chickens, hens and other animals on factory farms suffer many challenges during their short lives, but their misery is kept hidden from us. Some laws are in place to better protect them, but the rules are all too rarely enforced”.

She added, “We can change that by signing Animal Equality’s petition, urging the UK Government to put in place a licensing system for all farms. We can achieve greater public scrutiny and increase the chance that deliberate animal cruelty or neglect will be discovered”.

Diane Morgan Adds Voice To Animal Protection Campaign

Politicians regularly boast about the UK’s ‘world-leading’ animal protection laws, but findings from a recent report co-authored by Animal Equality and The Animal Law Foundation show a major failure of the UK Government to enforce the laws.

Data from the report shows that, on average, between 2018-2021:

Fewer than 3% of UK farms were inspected (2.95%).
Upon receiving a complaint, just half (50.45%) of farms were then inspected.
Of those inspections, approximately one-third (31.38%) identified non-compliance on the same site.
Just 0.33% of farms were prosecuted following initial complaints.

This data reinforces findings from years of Animal Equality investigations into UK factory farms and slaughterhouses showing farms breaking animal welfare laws without serious consequence.

All of this is leaving millions of farmed animals in danger of illegal abuse and neglect. Animal Equality is urging the Government to take action.

In November, Animal Equality held an event in Parliament to present the findings from the report to MPs and Government officials. Actor Peter Egan supported the event and gave an impassioned speech urging politicians to take action.

Diane Morgan’s appeal brings more people to the campaign, but there is still more to be done.

The UK’s allegedly ‘world-leading’ animal welfare laws mean nothing for animals trapped in the cruel meat, dairy, egg and fish industries if they are not applied in practice.

Animal Equality is calling for the UK Government to strengthen the enforcement of animal welfare laws, ensuring that animal abusers are held accountable.

Over an 11 year period, Animal Equality UK has investigated 43 farms and slaughterhouses, finding prolonged animal suffering, deliberate abuse or neglect, and/or illegality taking place every single time. Animal Equality’s evidentiary footage, spanning over a decade, is a growing indictment of this failing industry.

The Government must work with Animal Equality to put in place critical changes to the legal framework, including the following:

Implement a licensing system for farms;
Breaches of licences will result in non renewal and prosecution;
Inspections required for licence renewal which will be at least every 1-3 years, depending on the farm’s size;
Those inspections must be robust and occasionally unannounced;
Appropriate penalties for all farms found not complying with their licences and the law.

Laws are broken time and time again. On every pig farm Animal Equality UK has ever visited pigs have been routinely tail-docked; over a six year period we visited four dairy farms and on each we found severe animal suffering and illegality; and in a sheep slaughterhouse we discovered a Food Standards Agency inspector giving their nod of approval for clear non-compliance. Our investigators have looked into facilities accredited by Red Tractor, Quality Meat Scotland, Best Aquaculture Practices, The Soil Association and more, documenting illegality across the board.

This doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface. With over 300,000 slaughterhouses in the UK, it is not possible for Animal Equality to visit every single facility. How many animals will suffer the same cruelty behind closed doors?

The public puts its faith in accreditation schemes, awards and Government and local authorities, but consumers are being conned.

Public body inspections are few and far between. Crimes to farmed animals are rarely detected due to the current low levels of inspection. With the Animal Plant and Health Agency (APHA) inspecting just 0.5% of farms each year this means if every farm was to be inspected it would take 200 years. However, the reality is that some farms may never be inspected.

Non-compliance is rife. Where APHA inspections do occur, 25% identify non-compliance with animal welfare regulations and inspectors directly observe animals suffering ‘unnecessarily’ in one in 20 visits to uncertified farms.

Consequences are all but non-existent. When wrongdoing is detected it is too often left to the charities to apply the necessary pressure and ensure action is taken. Between 2017-2019 there were 80 convictions of cruelty to farmed animals under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, compared to 2,662 for dogs. Considering that over one billion animals are farmed and slaughtered each year in the UK, this number of convictions is extremely low. This lack of action is failing to disincentivise legal violations on farms.

The Government and local authorities must end their overreliance on charities, take ownership, and hold animal abusers accountable for their actions.
The current regulatory framework is a wholly inadequate safeguard to ensure legal compliance. It is simply not fit for purpose. Already vulnerable farmed animals are being left at the whims of an industry that wants only to commoditise them.

We, the undersigned, are calling for improved monitoring and enforcement of existing animal welfare laws and for increased legal protections to be put in place for farmed land and aquatic animals.

Demand the Government holds animal abusers accountable – SIGN NOW!

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