The Battle of Brightlingsea refers to a series of protests by animal rights supporters held in Brightlingsea, England, between 16 January and 30 October 1995, to prevent the export of livestock through the town. During this time period, early 1990s, this action had been talked and argued about among individuals. The name was first used by the media in The Independent newspaper, after Essex Police used riot control measures against demonstrators.
By 1995, members of the public had become increasingly concerned about the conditions in which animals were reared, transported and slaughtered. Some examples of the farm animals that were being exported to continental Europe were cattle, veal calves and sheep. British exporters had been forced to use small ports such as Brightlingsea to transport livestock after the country's three main ferry operators introduced bans on live cargo. This followed mounting public pressure about the suffering of sheep and cattle packed into huge transport vehicles for excessive periods. There were 2 national campaign groups trying to help this cause; the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Compassion in World Farming. They had called for a ban on all live exports by limiting journeys to eight hours. At the time, European regulations allowed for journeys of up to 24 hours without food or water. They used different tactics to highlight this issue, and eventually succeeded in influencing public opinion so that ferry companies took action. As a result of the ferry company ban, however, the transportation of the cattle was moved to the small, independently operated port of Brightlingsea.
The demonstrations, which were composed largely of local residents, ended on 30 October, when exporters announced they would no longer transport animals through the town because of the extra cost and logistical chaos caused by the daily protests. In practice, the export of live animals continued from other small ports, halting only in February 1996 when the European Union banned all meat exports from Britain over fears of "mad cow disease" entering the European food chain. The ban was lifted in 2006.
Background
Cross-Channel trade In 1988 there were approximately 1,000 abattoirs in Britain. By 1992 this number had fallen to 700 of which half were at risk of closure because of changes to European Commission (EC) regulations. Prior to this date most livestock in the country were only a couple of hours at most by road from the nearest abattoir. The closures meant much longer road journeys were required and for some farmers it became economically viable to send livestock to continental Europe for slaughter, and, under EC rather than UK regulations, transport times of up to 24 hours without rest, food or water were permissible. Investigations found that even this extended period was "routinely flouted."
British animal welfare groups, such as CIWF and the RSPCA, campaigned against live exports largely because of the suffering of cattle during these long-distance journeys. The RSPCA, which had been campaigning for a complete ban on live exports since 1991, said: "All animals should be slaughtered as close as possible to where they are reared." The British Veterinary Association adopted a similar stance, declaring that they were "opposed to the export of animals for immediate slaughter and believe that all animals should be slaughtered as near to the point of production as possible."
There was also concern about the continuing export of between 300,000 and 400,000 calves each year to Europe, where they were then confined in darkness in veal crates and fed on low-iron, liquid diets designed to produce a commercially valuable pale flesh. Veal crates had been banned in Britain since 1990, but there were no regulations in place to prevent the export of calves to other countries using veal crates or on the subsequent re-import of the meat into Britain.
In 1992 250,000 live calves had been exported for veal crating to the Netherlands alone, and 1.4 million live sheep had been exported. Following the introduction of the single European market in 1993, live animals were regarded as "'agricultural products' in exactly the same way as a consignment of turnips", and any attempt to regulate their journey times or conditions of travel was interpreted as 'a restraint on trade' and, therefore, illegal.
Commercial interests Commercial interests played a large part in the growth of live exports. Although it cost four times as much to transport a live animal to France than a carcass, British lambs slaughtered in French abattoirs were marked with a French meat inspection stamp instead of the UK abattoir stamp used on British carcass imports. This allowed the meat to be labelled and sold to consumers as "French produced" at a large premium, outweighing the increased transport costs.
A similar practice was carried out in Spain with consignments of live animals exported ostensibly "for further fattening." This bypassed a British ban on animals being exported for slaughter in Spanish abattoirs, which had been imposed because of "public revulsion at [Spanish] slaughterhouse standards." After a few days of grazing in Spain, the animals were re-classified as Spanish-reared and subsequently slaughtered.
Live animals also provided extra profit for slaughterhouses in the form of the so-called "fifth quarter": the offal, hide, intestine (for sausage skins) and, in sheep, the fleece.
Calls for ban rejected In April 1994 Nicholas Soames, the minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF), announced that despite national campaigns calling for an outright ban on live exports, this could not be imposed as it "would be in breach of European Union law." He said that the Government was "acutely aware" of the great strength of feeling and that the legal department at MAFF had considered a ban under article 36 of the Treaty of Rome, which allowed a restriction on trade on the grounds of public morality or protection of health of humans, animals and plants.
The advisers had concluded that article 36 "is not available as a basis of action in an area where the Community has established EC legislation." In response to a question in Parliament, Soames told Sir Teddy Taylor: "It is not for individual member states to constrain intra-community trade in order to impose higher standards on their own territory". Sir Teddy later told the press: "What this means is that there is absolutely nothing which the Government and Parliament can do to stop the traffic and that the great national campaigns by the animal charities are pointless... [It is] a massive disappointment which will cause concern to many people in the UK who are concerned about the suffering of animals".
Withdrawal of ferry services
Sheep deaths in transit Protests against live export began to be held at British ports and airports. In August 1994 MAFF launched an inquiry after Greek authorities reported that a lorry loaded with 400 sheep from England had arrived in the Greek port of Igoumenitsa on a ferry from Brindisi, Italy on 8 July with 302 of the animals having died in transit. No export licence to Greece had been granted for the livestock, which left for the Netherlands on the Dover to Calais ferry on 5 July. Chief Superintendent Don Balfour, head of the RSPCA special operations unit, said: "It is an awful example of what can go wrong on these long journeys with live animals. I question why it is necessary to subject animals to such journeys when there are perfectly adequate slaughterhouses in this country and refrigerated lorries to carry the meat abroad."
Public pressure to ban exports In August 1994, tabloid newspaper the Daily Star published an article disclosing that British Airways (BA) were transporting live sheep between Perth, Scotland and Singapore. Within twenty four hours of the newspaper being published, Robert Ayling, BA's group managing director, banned the carriage of live animals destined for slaughter on BA flights. In the face of increasing public pressure, Brittany Ferries announced that as of 22 August 1994 it would no longer export live animals for slaughter on its six routes to France and Spain. Demonstrators protested at the Dover and Ashford ferry terminals in Kent, and the offices of Stena Sealink ferries were firebombed.
As a result, Stena Sealink announced it would no longer transport live animals. Jim Hannah, the company's communications director, said: "We have acted essentially for commercial reasons. Over the past few months we have received thousands of letters from our customers saying they do not want to travel on a ferry that carries livestock." P&O said it would stop carrying animals to mainland Europe for slaughter from October 1994, "unless an improvement in European Union standards was imminent."
As public feeling against live export grew, even those ferry operators which did not transport livestock felt compelled to distance themselves from the trade. Sally Ferries UK sent out a press release "stressing it [had] rejected trade in live freight for more than 13 years" although it was actually a local by-law which prohibited them from carrying live exports from their port.
Exporters by-pass ferry bans
By 1 October 1994, when the ferry operators' ban began to affect the export trade, MAFF had received five applications from smaller operators to take over the trade. The new operators planned to carry only animals and freight "and would therefore be less exposed to public disapproval." MT Shipping planned to sail from Harwich, Essex to Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, an eight-hour journey much longer than the traditional one from Dover to Calais. The company said it would take between 50 and 110 lorries on its ferry, while P&O and Stena Sealink normally carried no more than twelve livestock lorries on their ships, mainly due to ventilation and heat problems.
They also asked permission to use former East European military transport planes to fly animals to mainland Europe, a move opposed by campaigners because the aircraft were unpressurised. Balkan Airlines flights from Humberside Airport to Rotterdam in the Netherlands using these aircraft were approved by MAFF on 20 October 1994. These flights were halted at the end of November 1994 due to "the strength of public feeling". Other flights took place from Belfast Airport, Glasgow Prestwick Airport, Bournemouth Airport and Coventry Airport.
On 28 October 1994 a ferry carrying 3,000 lambs sailed from Grimsby to Calais, a journey of about 18 hours, in a "trial run" intended to open up a new route. The animals were then transported for 10 hours by road to an abattoir in central France. The RSPCA said: "We are appalled that these animals have to endure such a long and stressful journey. It is simply not necessary for animals to be transported live for food." In November 1994 Ferrylink Freight Services, owned by Mersey Docks and Harbour Company, announced they would transport livestock from Sheerness in Kent to Vlissingen in the Netherlands. Following the first shipment of 3,000 animals, Ferrylink postponed further sailings following bomb threats.
On 30 November 1994 a new route was opened from Millbay docks, Plymouth. Approximately 100 police officers were used to escort five lorries loaded with sheep and calves through protesters. On 3–4 December 1994 Glasgow Prestwick Airport took out advertisements in Scottish newspapers asking the public to write to them to say whether cattle shipments should continue from the airport. On 9 December 1994 the airport announced it would no longer transport live animals. On 21 December 1994 Air Algérie Flight 702P crashed at Coventry on its way to pick up a cargo of 200 calves. All five crew were killed.