A new era for animals
Celebrating the Government’s ambitious Animal Welfare Strategy
At the end of last year, we marked a landmark moment for the future of animal protection in the UK. Just before Christmas, the Government published its long-awaited Animal Welfare Strategy, setting out a bold vision for wildlife, companion animals, farmed animals and animals overseas. As an organisation dedicated to protecting animals, FOUR PAWS UK warmly welcomes the Strategy and the high level of ambition demonstrated by the Government to deliver transformative change for animals. The direction is clear: to ensure that as many animals as possible live good lives and experience positive welfare, grounded in a meaningful recognition of their sentience and welfare needs.
For too long, millions of animals have suffered in silence, and this Strategy represents an ambitious programme for animal welfare. Crucially, it acknowledges the moral and ethical responsibility we all share to protect animals as sentient beings, beings that are capable of pain, fear, pleasure and joy.
Now the hard work begins: working together to ensure these commitments are delivered and that animals are better protected in practice.
Below, we’ll outline what this Strategy means for animals and how we aim to help the Government deliver on its promises.
Farmed animals: Toward healthier, happier lives
The Strategy sets out a transformative vision for farmed animals, recognising that healthier, happier animals also support sustainable British farming.
Click to reveal the key commitments
Phasing out confinement systems: The Government will work with industry to phase out enriched cages for laying hens and farrowing crates for pigs, moving toward non-cage systems that allow animals to express their natural behaviours.
Ending cruel practices: There is a clear intention to end the use of carbon dioxide for stunning pigs, reduce tail docking, end beak trimming, and male chick culling, all practices that cause significant suffering for millions of animals farmed each year in the UK.
Raising welfare standards: The Strategy signals a shift toward higher welfare production, including the promotion of slower-growing chicken breeds and clear monitoring and reporting of enforcement actions to ensure compliance.
These commitments show a bold step toward a future in which farmed animals can live good lives, and we look forward to working with the Government, industry and civil society to ensure these vital reforms are realised.
Wild animals: Protection and respect
For wild animals, the Strategy sets out several measures that could strengthen protection for wildlife and reduce avoidable suffering.
Click to reveal these measures
Banning cruel hunting practices: Trail hunting will be banned, and snare traps outlawed, ending cruel and outdated practices that have caused immense suffering.
Improving seasonal protections: The Government will consult on introducing a close season for hares to protect mothers and leverets during critical breeding periods.
Strengthening penalties for wildlife crime: The Strategy highlights the need to reinforce enforcement and increase penalties for offences against wild animals. By holding offenders accountable, these measures have the potential to deter illegal activities such as poaching, illegal trapping and other cruel forms of wildlife exploitation, ensuring that wild animals are better protected under the law.
Taken together, these measures indicate a more coordinated approach to the protection of wild animals. Whether this translates into meaningful improvements for animals will depend less on the strength of individual commitments on paper, and more on how consistently they are implemented, enforced and evaluated in practice.
Companion animals: Safer, healthier pets
The Strategy also sets ambitious targets for companion animals, tackling some of the most pressing welfare concerns.
Click to reveal the targets
Ending low-welfare breeding: Efforts to prevent any loopholes in the newly passed Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Act 2025, regulate dog breeding, and license rescue and rehoming centres will reduce the suffering caused by puppy farming and illegal imports.
Promoting responsible ownership: There will be consultations on banning electric shock collars and improving licensing standards for canine fertility clinics, stud dogs, and whelping services.
Strengthening enforcement: Importantly, the Government commits to ensuring robust enforcement to ensure that protections are effective and meaningful.
These commitments have the potential to dramatically improve the lives of millions of companion animals across the UK, particularly at a time when dog ownership is on the rise.
International commitments: Setting a global example
The Strategy recognises that the UK has an important role in promoting animal welfare internationally.
Click to reveal the UK's role
Trade and welfare standards: The Government will champion high welfare standards and best practices in trade agreements.
Understanding the fur trade: The Government will establish a working group to examine the fur trade and publish the findings, helping to inform future policy and promote higher welfare standards for imported animal products.
Phasing out animal testing: Wherever possible, the Strategy commits to reducing and replacing animal testing, reflecting both scientific progress and ethical responsibility.
By embedding these principles internationally, the UK can lead by example and influence global improvements in animal welfare, worldwide.
Now the work begins
Of course, we would have liked the Government to go further by including their manifesto commitment to ban the import of hunting trophies and by setting out stronger action to ban the sale and import of fur and we will continue to press for progress on these priority issues.
Even so, the publication of the Animal Welfare Strategy is rightly cause for celebration: it is ambitious, comprehensive, and sets a clear direction of travel for how animals are treated in the UK and overseas. But ambition on paper is not enough. The real test now lies in delivery, and in translating commitments into concrete, enforceable improvements that protect animals in practice, and do so without delay. The longer we wait, the more animals suffer.
FOUR PAWS UK stands ready to work alongside Government, industry and partners across the animal welfare sector to help turn this vision into reality. Together, we can create a future where farmed, wild and companion animals in the UK, and around the world, thrive and where the UK leads the world in recognising their sentience, dignity and welfare, treating every animal with respect, empathy and understanding.
