EU asks horse owners to pledge not to eat their animals

Horse owners will have to sign a pledge not to eat their animals under new EU legislation, it has been reported.

The rule, aimed at continental Europe, where two million horses are reportedly eaten every year, will still have to be signed in Britain.

The Horse Identification Regulations, which will come into force at the beginning of next month, is partly to stop vets' drugs from entering human diets.



Anyone who refuses to sign up to the regulations could face prison or an unlimited fine.

Nigel Farage, leader of UKIP, said: "I'd like to be a fly on the wall when the Queen and Princess Anne are asked to sign a form saying they're not going to eat their horses. Measures to stop the trade in horse flesh may be a good thing. But any common sense in Brussels is drowned by the sheer weight of ludicrouse suggestions."

The new law has left British horse and stable owners perplexed. Kate Gillanders, of Kindross, Pertshire, said "We don't see our horses as cattle. The thought of them being eaten is utterly repulsive. Brussels is poking its nose in where it should not be. The EU knows nothing about me and cares even less. This nonsense is somebody else's obsession."