The chairman of an influential Parliamentary committee says he does not expect the Government to go ahead with a ban on the use of beak trimming.
At a farming forum in North Yorkshire, MP Neil Parish – the chairman of the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee – told Ranger TV that he hoped the ban to be deferred for many years.
A decision on whether to introduce a ban is expected before the end of the year. The practice was originally due to be outlawed in 2011 but the plan was abandoned on the advice of the Farm Animal Welfare Council, which was concerned about the impact on cannibalism and injurious pecking if the ban went ahead.
The Government said the issue would be reviewed in 2015 with a view to a ban being imposed in 2016. Trials have been taking place to find ways of managing commercial egg laying birds without the use of beak trimming, but two trial flocks have suffered severe outbreaks of injurious pecking.
Neil Parish has now said he expects the Government dismiss the prospect of a beak trimming ban. He also said that the Government and the poultry industry should work together to shut down the threat of avian influenza.
