Labour 'to legalise harmful way of carrying chickens'

Labour is using its first animal welfare policy since entering government to dilute standards by legalising the harmful practice of carrying chickens by their legs, charities have said.

- Haroon Siddique

European transport regulation 1/2005, which still applies in the UK, prohibits lifting chickens by their legs on farms and during loading and unloading, but according to the Animal Law Foundation the government is changing the law to permit the method. This is despite the animal welfare committee of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) having previously said it caused distress and injuries such as fractures and dislocations.