A heartfelt tribute to all who gave their everything to stop this vile trade.
A historic event took place on 6 November 2023 when King Charles spelled out the plans of PM Rishi Sunak’s government. He declared that a bill will be introduced to ban the export of live animals from the UK for slaughter and fattening abroad.
For decades animal rights campaigners have been trying to get this vile trade banned. Transporting animals thousands of miles away to other countries involves immense cruelty. Stuck in cramped conditions without adequate food or water and suffering from many ailments these poor animals had no hope. Mental exhaustion, physical injury, hunger, stress and dehydration all take their toll.
Dead animals were just dumped in the sea. When they arrived at their destination these animals were subjected to brutal deaths so that their flesh could be eaten by humans. Around 1.6 million farm animals- cattle, calves, sheep, pigs and horses are transported huge distances across Europe. This despicable trade had to be stopped. It required dedicated, compassionate human beings to take up the fight to stop this activity which was a shame on the human race.
Royal Society for Protection of Animals (RSPCA) was amongst the first organisations to start a campaign against live exports. It has been campaigning for more than 50 years. It collected millions of signatures on petitions, and thousands of supporters got arrested in protest marches. In the 1970’s the RSPCA created a special operation unit of dedicated undercover officers to trail and track lorries carrying animals and record data. One of those special officers was David Whiting, step son of Lord Dowding. Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding was in charge of RAF Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain. He was widely credited for defeating Hitlers plans to invade Britain. Lord Dowding became a Theosophist. The teachings of the Theosophical society are said to be based on Hinduism. He also became a Vegetarian and espoused the cause of animal rights. David’s mother Muriel was a Vegetarian who was influenced by the teachings of the Theosophical Society. Founder of Beauty Without Cruelty, she was a visionary due to whom almost all beauty products today proudly claim to be Vegan and not tested on animals. In May 1999 David received an International Certificate of Appreciation, ‘For valuable assistance to the Special Operations Unit’ from the RSPCA. David was instrumental in getting India to ban the export of Frogs legs. He carried out covert investigations into animal abuse in Nepal, Canada, South Africa, Iran, Ethiopia and India as well as in the Shoreham campaign to stop animal exports. David is a recipient of our Mahaveer Award. He now lives in Portugal with his wife Maria who also is an animal rights campaigner. The current CEO of RSPCA Chris Sherwood expressed his deep disappointment when the ‘ Kept Animals Bill’ the forerunner of the current bill to ban live exports was left in a limbo for 500 days. It looked like the Gods wanted to further test the resolve of campaigners.
Another organisation that never gave up hope and continued to raise the voice for animals is Compassion in World Farming. Started by the late legendary Peter Roberts in 1967 CIWF has fought to improve animal welfare for decades. In the 1960’s Peter had spent time in India at the Ashram of Sathya Sai Baba. CIWF has co-ordinated 14 June as, ‘Ban Live Exports International Awareness Day’. Campaigners in over 40 countries take part in this protest. In 2022 CIWF supporters took over Parliament Square and called upon the government to ban live exports.They handed in 95,000 signatures calling for a ban on live exports to 10 Downing Street. In a unique co-operation between animal rights groups Viva! which is led by Juliet Galetly and Tony Wardle along with Animal Aid joined hands with CIWF in 2020 to organise a protest march. Joyce D’ Silva who was the CEO of CIWF from 1991 to 2005 played a leading role in the fight to stop live exports along with the current CEO Philip Limbrey, Peter Stevenson and late John Callaghan. PETA too has campaigned to abolish live exports. It collected tens of thousands of signatures to send to the Environmental Secretary in protest of the scrapping of the Kept Animals Bill.
Tragedy struck the animal rights movement when on 1st.February 1995 Jill Phipps, an animal rights activist campaigning to stop the export of calves by air from Coventry was crushed to death by a lorry bringing the animals. She was 31 years old. Jill was determined to stop the export of animals from Coventry. I had been to one protest at Coventry and Shoreham. When the lorries arrived with the calves you could make eye contact with the poor creatures and it would melt your heart. The protesters would become desperate to stop the lorries going forward. They would try and block the lorries and scuffles with the police would break out. In the end as the animals get loaded on the ship the protesters would be left crying.
Jill will be remembered forever in the history of the animal rights movement. Our organisation presented a Mahaveer Award to Jill posthumously. During this time the fight moved to Britain’s ports from where the animals were transported by sea. In the port town of Brightlingsea a series of protests took place against the live exports between16 January and 30 October 1995. It came to be known as the Battle of Brightlingsea. At the time, European regulations allowed people to be transported up to 24 hours without food or water. Brightlingsea Against Live Exports (BALE) was started by sisters Maria Wilby and Francesca D’Silva. They are daughters of Joyce D’ Silvia, former CEO of CIWF and the current Ambassador for the organisation. The protests led to clashes with the police. Students, Pensioners and even children took part in the protests.
According to the Gazette Standard, (Essex County 19 January 2020), Maria Wilby was arrested 8 times. Her husband was arrested and charged with assaulting a police officer. He was represented by none other than the present leader of the Labour Party Sir Keir Starmer. Sir Keir at the time was a Human Rights lawyer. Sir Keir is a Vegetarian and the bill to ban the export of live animals is likely to meet his approval and that of the Labour Party. This means it will get an overwhelming majority. Strange how things fall in place when your goal is nothing but compassion. Over 600 people were arrested from January to October 1995. A group known as Brightlingsea 14 were taken to the High Court by farmer Roger Mills, the main exporter of the animals. He tried to sue them for £1million each. He did not succeed. BALE eventually won the battle when the export companies stopped using the Brightlingsea port due to rising costs
A similar campaign took place in Shoreham. Carla Lane and Celia Hammond were amongst the famous names which supported the Shoreham protests. Mark Glover of the Respect For Animals, Jaine Wild of Sussex anti – hunt campaigner and Sue Baumgardt an animal rights campaigner were also actively supporting the campaign. On Wednesday 4 January around 1000 police officers were present in Shoreham to avoid repetition of disturbances that had taken place on previous two nights. Hundreds of protesters had not allowed lorries to unload the animals onto the ship. We organised a Vegan dinner party for the protesters one evening in Shoreham. BALE eventually won the battle when on 6 July 1995 the export companies stopped using the Brightlingsea port due to rising costs. The policing cost of the protests was £150,000 a day.
Kent Action Against Live Exports(KAALE) has organised protests against the export of animals from Dover and Ramsgate for 28 years. KAALE founder Yvonne Birchall and her husband Ian Birchall have tenaciously fought to stop the export of calves from Dover and Ramsgate. Activist Liz Long published the Animal Protesters Bulletin. Export of live animals had come to a halt after the outbreak of BSE disease also known as the ‘mad cow disease’. The exports started again in 2006 after the lifting of a decade-long EU ban imposed to prevent the spread of BSE. On 12 September 2012 the RSPCA inspected a ship carrying live animals in Ramsgate and found out that 41 sheep were severely injured and had to be put down. Another 2 had drowned. The Thanet Council which owned the Port banned any further exports from taking place. However Ramsgate port was designated as a ‘free port’. The exporting companies sued the Thanet Council for loss of business.The court judgement went in their favour. The Council paid out £5.1 million to exporting companies and others involved in the trade. The Council can look back and be proud of the fact that they did what was morally the right thing to do. One of the Thanet Councillors who had supported the campaign to ban live exports was Ian Driver. He was of the opinion that only a peaceful direct action would halt the exports. In 2011 and 2014 huge protests took place in Ramsgate.
In the absence of any success to ban the live exports the RSPCA, CIWF, KAALE pushed for a law to substantially reduce travelling times of animals. Yvonne Birchall said in 2019, ‘we believe no animal should travel for more than 8 hours to have their throat cut’.
It is said that the night is the darkest before dawn. Just as it seemed that there was no hope for the animals, the government of Rishi Sunak has announced a parliamentary bill to ban the vile trade. The icing on the Vegan cake is that meat consumption in the UK has fallen to its lowest since the records began. Fish consumption has gone down too.
While we celebrate a hard fought victory in nearby Ireland around 150,000 unweaned calves and thousands of cattle are sent to Libya and Turkey. Caroline Rowley founder of Ethical Farming Ireland is fighting to stop this trade and all animal abuse. We should support her and all the thousands of people fighting for compassion towards animals.
The fight will continue until the Human race declares peace with the animal kingdom. What we want is a fundamental change in human behaviour. It transcends nations, races, religions and ideologies. It is a new dawn in human civilization that we are seeking. It is our tryst with destiny. We will pass on the baton to the next generation when we can no longer fight.
Nitin Mehta
13 November 2023
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