Petitions before parliament

Every petition on petition.parliament.uk that asks for something about animals. The ask and the government’s reply are reproduced as each was published, and each row links to the petition itself.

confirmed 5 hours ago against petition.parliament.uk, and rechecked every 6 hours. Signature counts move between checks; the petition page is always the current number.

119open now
6government responses
1debated
0closed
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119 open petitions.

Past 100,000 signatures

Parliament’s help pages say that all petitions reaching 100,000 signatures “will be considered for debate, and are usually debated”, and that the Petitions Committee may decide against one — for instance where the issue has been debated recently or is already scheduled.

Make a public animal abuser register & automatically ban ownership

opened 12 March 2026 · Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

244,036 signatures · past both thresholds

Create a public register of all offenders convicted of animal abuse and introduce an automatic, lifetime ban on animal ownership for anyone convicted of animal neglect or abuse. This register should be searchable by vets, breeders, charities and the public to prevent repeat offending.

The government has no plans to introduce an animal abuse register, or an automatic lifetime ban for animal abusers because we already have similar provisions in place.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 19 May 2026

Debated 29 June 2026. Hansard transcript.

animal

Past 10,000 signatures

Petitions reaching 10,000 signatures get a written response from the government. Where one has been published it is quoted in full below, attributed to the department that gave it.

Ban non-stun & recoverable stun slaughter of animals

opened 30 March 2026 · Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

55,580 signatures · 44,420 short of the 100,000 considered for debate

Religious slaughter may require the animal to be slaughtered whilst alive, which is in line with their religious beliefs. In relation to this, stunning needs to be recoverable. Normal slaughter uses a bolt gun that renders the animal brain dead and unable to regain consciousness.

The government prefers all animals to be stunned before slaughter but respects the rights of Jews and Muslims to eat meat prepared in accordance with their religious beliefs.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 6 May 2026
animalslaughter

Provide lifelong vet care and financial support for retired service animals

opened 12 June 2026 · Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

54,359 signatures · 45,641 short of the 100,000 considered for debate

We want the UK Government to create a national support scheme to provide lifelong veterinary care and financial assistance for retired service animals, including police dogs, military dogs, and police horses.

Whilst the government has no plans for a national support scheme for retired service animals, government is reviewing options to improve vet fee transparency and consumer choice.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 27 July 2026
animalvet

Add fish-eating birds to Schedule 2.1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981

opened 26 June 2026 · Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

15,368 signatures · 84,632 short of the 100,000 considered for debate

Amend Schedule 2.1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to list cormorants, goosanders and red-breasted mergansers that they may be managed, enabling proportionate control to protect inland fisheries and migratory fish populations where serious damage is evidenced.

The government recently consulted on amending Schedule 2.1 and invited views from stakeholders. Responses are now being considered. Final decisions will be taken by Ministers and published shortly.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 27 July 2026
birdfishwildlife

Require meat to be labelled if religiously slaughtered & stunned or not stunned

opened 12 May 2026 · Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

14,007 signatures · 85,993 short of the 100,000 considered for debate

We want the Government to require all meat products to be clearly labelled to show whether the animal was religiously slaughtered (RS or NRS) and if the animal was stunned before slaughter or not-stunned before slaughter (SS or NSS).

Past 10,000 signatures; no government response published yet.

slaughter

Protect raced greyhounds from exports by introducing spay/neuter laws

opened 24 April 2026 · Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

11,578 signatures · 88,422 short of the 100,000 considered for debate

Make it law to spay and neuter all raced greyhounds once they finish racing on licensed race tracks to protect them from being shipped around the world to breeding/racing kennels.

The government’s animal welfare priorities to 2030 are set in the Animal Welfare Strategy published in December 2025. Defra is not currently considering changes to the neutering or spaying of dogs.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 9 June 2026
greyhound

Make it illegal to walk dogs during extreme heat to prevent suffering and death.

opened 24 April 2026 · Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

11,253 signatures · 88,747 short of the 100,000 considered for debate

Introduce legislation to make it an offence to walk or exercise dogs during dangerously high temperatures (i.e. 25°C and above), to protect them from heatstroke and burned paws.

Legislation and guidance already protects pets during extreme heat. Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, it is an offence to cause any animal unnecessary suffering or fail to provide for its welfare.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 31 July 2026
dog

Everything else being petitioned

Below 10,000 signatures, so no government response is due. Listed so the page shows what is being asked rather than only what has already succeeded.

How this page decides what to show

The petitions service publishes everything as JSON and its search runs over the whole petition text, which finds a great deal that is not about animals — a petition about data centres comes back for “wildlife” because its background mentions wildlife. So the sweep asks 14 broad terms and then keeps only the petitions whose one-line ask mentions one of 86 animal subjects. Both lists are in the repository and both are printed here, because a page that filters ought to say what it filters on.

The 14 terms asked of the API

animal welfare · animals · dog · cat · pet · wildlife · horse · bird · hunting · slaughter · zoo · livestock · greyhound · snare

The 86 subjects matched against the ask

animal · pet · dog · xl bully · cat · kitten · puppy · puppy farm · horse · equine · pony · ponies · donkey · greyhound · hound · badger · fox · deer · hare · rabbit · hedgehog · otter · wolf · wolves · lynx · beaver · boar · bird · seabird · seagull · gull · songbird · waterbird · raptor · pigeon · swan · poultry · hen · chicken · duck · fish · whale · dolphin · seal · primate · monkey · wildlife · livestock · cattle · cow · sheep · lamb · pig · goat · snare · trap · glue trap · fur · ivory · vivisection · zoo · circus · aquarium · captivity · slaughter · slaughterhouse · abattoir · stunning · cull · hatching · rehoming · breeder · vet · veterinary · sentience · sentient · cruelty · endangered · dock · declaw · hunt · falconry · angling · tether · live export · fireworks

Matching allows a plural and the two common verb endings, so “cull” catches “culled” and “culling”. If a petition you expected is missing, the subject list is the thing to look at first. Method last reviewed 23 August 2026; the signature counts above carry their own timestamp.

What this page does not do

It does not say which petitions deserve support, rank them against each other, or record who signed or created one. It does not carry a name: the petitions service publishes the creator’s name and this site does not store or display it. Nor does it show how any member of parliament voted — where a petition has been debated, the link goes to the Hansard transcript, and TheyWorkForYou is where individual voting records live.

Source: Petitions: UK Government and Parliament — help, for the 10,000 and 100,000 thresholds quoted above. Petition text and government responses are reproduced from petition.parliament.uk under the Open Government Licence v3.0. What the law currently is sits on the law comparison, and how it got there on the timeline.