Animal Welfare: Research
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps her Department has taken to support research into animal sentience.
Answered by Stephen Morgan
The most recent research Defra commissioned on animal sentience was an independent review by the London School of Economics on sentience in cephalopod molluscs and decapod crustaceans. The findings from this comprehensive study underpinned this Government’s decision to include these species within the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022, formally recognising them as sentient beings under UK law.
This Government takes the welfare of sentient animals seriously and funds a programme of animal welfare research to inform policy and support high standards of welfare.
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