Downton Abbey star Peter Egan has raised concerns about the government’s failure to end “excessive cruelty” that is imposed on animals for the entertainment of tourists. He told how both Labour and the Conservatives failed to enforce the Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act, which passed in 2023, which would ban tourism adverts for attractions abroad which harm animals to perform tricks.
When Mr Egan asked how he felt by the lack of enactment, he said: “I feel depressed on the one hand and disenchanted, and actually rather confused when it’s been an Act for the last two years. Neither government has chosen to enact the Act. It makes me ask rather large questions about what they are frightened of, and if you have an Act that has got the support of in excess of 80% of the population, who is the government working for? It confuses me and makes me question, and also makes me very suspicious.”
Mr Egan has spent nearly 40 years rescuing dogs and around 20 being a committed animal welfare campaigner around the world. He has travelled to Indonesia, China, Vietnam, South Korea and all over Europe highlighting the plight of animals.
He said: “I spend a huge amount of my life both researching and going to the coal face and witnessing cruelty close up.
“It is extremely distressing and it is also what makes me more depressed, confused and angry that our government doesn’t act to end the excessive cruelty that is imposed on innocent animals for the entertainment of tourists.
“I do think the government is listening. It must also be listening to other pressures. Once you’ve traced the cruelty, as indeed I have and many of the campaigners I work with, there is no question that this should be stopped.”
The actor warned the British public that the only way for them to enjoy animal entertainment is by “totally breaking” its spirit.
He said: “They have to understand that the only way this kind of entertainment can happen is by totally breaking, in the cruellest manner possible, the spirit of the animal that they are watching.
“I’m amazed that the British public hasn’t really committed to this in terms of changing their lifestyle. So many of them say ‘this is awful, I hate it, it’s terrible’ but then don’t tell me about it and don’t object to the fact that I’m going to support it by visiting that country and part of my deal will be that I’ll visit either a tiger, an elephant, a chimpanzee or a dolphin – any of the most amazing species that are treated so cruelly in the tourism entertainment industry.
“They don’t tie up the end and say ‘I’m not going to do that’.
Mr Egan told how he is inspired by the “great commitment to kindness and compassion” in the UK.
He added: “But it isn’t followed through by the general public who tend to ignore this when they think ‘well, I’ll get a cheap holiday in the sun’.
“I will not go to Spain because of bull fighting. In fact, I’ve started to limit the amount of countries I would visit just for pleasure because of the cruelty imposed on the animals in that country.
“I don’t think that people really realise that when they go and hug a tiger in a temple that that tiger is drugged out of its mind.
“The big con is that corporations and entertainment organisations sell this terrible lie that animals like entertaining us and they don’t. No animal likes entertaining us. The only ones that like entertaining us, to a degree, are our companion animals because they get so much in return from us. We break the spirit of our companion animals with kindness.”
He added: “We really, really do have to reset our relationship with the most amazing animals on our planet.”
The government is set to meet with campaigners to discuss the Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act on Thursday.
A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said: “This government was elected on a mandate to introduce the most ambitious plans to improve animal welfare in a generation. That is exactly what we will do. We are considering the most effective ways to stop the advertising of unethical and cruel animal activities abroad.”