This petition was submitted during the 2017 to 2019 Parliament
Rejected petition Recognise, in UK law statutes, that animals are sentient beings.
Rejected on
On Wednesday 15th November 2017, UK MPs voted not to include animal sentience in the EU Withdrawal Bill. The current EU legislation, under Article 13 of the EU Lisbon Treaty*, states that animals are sentient beings. We want the UK to recognise animal sentience in the legal statues and framework.
Animals are able to feel pain and emotions, it has been scientifically proven. Therefore, the fact that MPs have taken this backward step to deny this, is baffling.
It is also very dangerous. By denying animals rights and recognition of sentience, also means a whole raft of animal abuse and neglect cases could go untried in court, or carry very few penalties for perpetrators. This cannot be allowed.
We urge you to please sign this petition to enforce a debate in parliament for animals.
Why was this petition rejected?
There’s already a petition about this issue. We cannot accept a new petition when we already have one about a very similar issue.
You are more likely to get action on this issue if you sign and share a single petition.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/205348
We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.