The Welfare of Animals (Slaughter or Killing) Regulations 1995

PART IINTRODUCTORY

Title, commencement and extent

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Welfare of Animals (Slaughter or Killing) Regulations 1995 and shall come into force on 1st April 1995.

(2) Subject to paragraph (3) below, these Regulations extend to Great Britain.

(3) Paragraph 2(3) and (4) of Schedule 6 extends to England and Wales.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—

“animal” includes bird;

“adverse weather condition” means any weather condition, including direct sunlight, which has an adverse affect on the welfare of an animal;

“authorised person” means any person authorised in writing by the Minister for the purposes of these Regulations;

“commercial”, in relation to the slaughter or killing of an animal, means slaughter or killing—

“container” means any transport crate in which an animal is delivered to a slaughterhouse or knacker’s yard;

“contravention”, in relation to any provision of these Regulations, includes a failure to comply with that provision, and “contravenes” shall be construed accordingly;

“horse” includes any hinny, ass or mule;

“killing”, in relation to an animal, means causing the death of the animal by any process other than slaughter;

“knacker’s yard” means any premises used for the commercial slaughter or killing of solipeds, ruminants, pigs, rabbits or birds, the flesh of which is not intended for human consumption, including any associated facilities for moving or lairaging such animals;

“lairaging”, in relation to an animal, means keeping the animal in a stall, pen, covered area or field used by a slaughterhouse or knacker’s yard in order to confine it until it is slaughtered or killed or to give it any necessary attention before it is slaughtered or killed;

“the Minister” means, in relation to England, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and, in relation to Scotland or Wales, the Secretary of State;

“the Ministers” means the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Secretary of State for Wales and the Secretary of State for Scotland acting jointly;

“movement”, in relation to an animal, means unloading it or driving it from an unloading place, stall or pen at a slaughterhouse or knacker’s yard to the premises or place where it is to be lairaged, slaughtered or killed;

“pithing”, in relation to an animal, means the destruction of its brain tissue after stunning to the extent that irreversible loss of consciousness is ensured;

“restraining pen” means a pen or compartment which is—

“restraint”, in relation to an animal, means the application of any procedure designed to restrict its movements in order to facilitate effective stunning or killing;

“slaughter”, in relation to an animal, means causing the death of the animal by bleeding;

“slaughterhouse” means any premises used for the commercial slaughter or killing of solipeds, ruminants, pigs, rabbits or birds the flesh of which is intended for human consumption, including any associated facilities for moving or lairaging such animals;

“stunning”, in relation to an animal, means any process which causes immediate loss of consciousness which lasts until death;

“stunning pen” means a pen or compartment which is suitable for confining adult bovine animals while they are being stunned and which is so constructed that it—

“wild game” means wild land mammals which are hunted (including wild mammals living within an enclosed area under conditions of freedom similar to those enjoyed by wild game) and wild birds.

(2) For the purposes of these Regulations, a person permits any act or omission if he knows of, or might reasonably be expected to know of, that act or omission.

(3) Any reference in these Regulations to a numbered regulation or Schedule shall, except where the context otherwise requires, be construed as a reference to the regulation or Schedule bearing that number in these Regulations.

(4) Any provision in these Regulations which applies to an animal awaiting slaughter or killing applies until that animal is dead.

Application and exemptions

3.—(1) These Regulations apply to the movement, lairaging, restraint, stunning, slaughter and killing of animals bred or kept for the production of meat, skin, fur or other products, to methods of killing animals for the purpose of disease control and to the killing of surplus chicks and embryos in hatchery waste.

(2) These Regulations do not apply to any act lawfully done under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986(1).

(3) These Regulations do not apply to any animal which is killed during a sporting event.

(4) These Regulations do not apply to the killing of wild game.

Humane treatment of animals

4.—(1) No person engaged in the movement, lairaging, restraint, stunning, slaughter or killing of animals shall—

(a)cause any avoidable excitement, pain or suffering to any animal; or

(b)permit any animal to sustain any avoidable excitement, pain or suffering.

(2) Without prejudice to paragraph (3) below, no person shall engage in the movement, lairaging, restraint, stunning, slaughter or killing of any animal unless he has the knowledge and skill necessary to perform those tasks humanely and efficiently in accordance with these Regulations.

(3) Schedule 1 shall have effect in relation to the licensing of slaughtermen.

(4) Parts II and III below are without prejudice to the generality of paragraphs (1) and (2) above.

Safeguarding the welfare of animals

5.  The occupier of a slaughterhouse or knacker’s yard shall ensure that at all times when there are live animals on the premises a person (whether or not himself) is available who is competent, and who has authority to take whatever action may be necessary to safeguard the welfare of the animals in accordance with these Regulations.

Animal welfare legislation and codes

6.—(1) The occupier of a slaughterhouse or knacker’s yard shall ensure that any person who is involved in any of the activities governed by these Regulations—

(a)is acquainted with the provisions of the legislation, and of any welfare codes, relevant to the operations that that person carries out;

(b)has access to a copy of any such welfare code at the slaughterhouse or knacker’s yard;

(c)has received instruction and guidance on the requirements of such legislation and any such welfare code; and

(d)where, by virtue of paragraph 3 of Schedule 1, any such activity requires a licence, has the appropriate licence.

(2) In this regulation “welfare code” means any current code issued under regulation 7.

Codes of practice

7.—(1) The Ministers may from time to time, after consultation with such organisations as appear to them to represent the interests concerned—

(a)prepare and issue codes of practice for the purpose of providing guidance in respect of these Regulations; and

(b)revise any such code by revoking, varying, amending or adding to the provisions of the code.

(2) A code prepared in pursuance of this regulation and any alterations proposed to be made on a revision of such a code shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament, and the Ministers shall not issue the code or revised code, as the case may be, until after the end of a period of 40 days beginning on the day on which the code or the proposed alterations to it were so laid.

(3) If, within the period mentioned in paragraph (2) above, either House resolves that the code be not issued or the proposed alterations be not made, the Ministers shall not issue the code or revised code (without prejudice to their power under that paragraph to lay further codes or proposed alterations before Parliament).

(4) For the purposes of paragraph (2) above—

(a)where a code or proposed alterations are laid before each House of Parliament on different days, the later day shall be taken as the day on which the code or the proposed alterations, as the case may be, was or were laid before both Houses of Parliament; and

(b)in reckoning any period of 40 days no account shall be taken of any time during which Parliament is dissolved or prorogued or during which both Houses are adjourned for more than four days.

(5) The Ministers shall cause any code issued or revised under this regulation to be printed and distributed, and may make such arrangements as they think fit for its distribution, including causing copies of it to be put on sale to the public at such reasonable price as the Ministers may determine.

(6) A failure on the part of any person to follow any guidance contained in a code issued under this regulation shall not of itself render that person liable to proceedings of any kind.

(7) If, in proceedings against any person for an offence consisting of the contravention of any provision of these Regulations, it is shown that, at any material time, he failed to follow any guidance contained in a code issued under this regulation, being guidance which was relevant to the provision concerned, that failure may be relied upon by the prosecution as tending to establish his guilt.