Livestock demo threat Rail grant blow
Page 6
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Plans for a railfreight termi by Karen Miles • Animals rights activists this week threatened to end the overseas trade in live animals once and for all as livestock hauliers began their first international work in two months.
More than 120 protesters gathered at Dover to demonstrate against the reintroduction of a livestock ferry service between the UK and mainland Europe.
The pressure group Compassion in World Farming has promised hauliers that they will be greeted by "thousands" of activists until the trade ends.
The latest protests follow the re-chartering of a ferry by livestock export company ITF to take new
season lambs for slaughter on the Continent. Around a million sheep are expected to be exported to Dunkirk between now and October.
ITF ceased operating the last livestock ferry linking the UK to the Continent in March when the European Union banned the export of British beef. Services from Brightlingsea and Shoreham had already ceased.
"This will be a sustained, national level protest at Dover which will follow the same form as previous protests at Brightlingsea and Shoreham," says CWF campaigns officer Richard Hardy. "We will not stop until the trade is ended."