News Blog Demanding better for animals (23-02-26) The upcoming Scottish election brings opportunities for advocating for animals. After May, we will be speaking with new MSPs and Ministers and encouraging bold action as the next five-year session of Parliament begins. First though, there is the election itself. Political parties are currently creating their manifestos, which list the policies they plan to bring in if elected. Our OneKind manifesto details the issues we would like parties to prioritise and the solutions we would like them to commit to. We first shared it with the parties last summer, when they began developing their ideas. We have since met with most of them, in some cases more than once. Big picture As well as some asks on specific issues, we are pressing parties to make big changes, that would benefit all animals and are necessary to shift mindsets and systems away from the status quo, where animal exploitation and suffering are normalised. Those big changes include updating welfare and wildlife laws, and finding better ways to represent the perspectives of animals in policy and decision making. We would also like to see a Citizen’s Assembly on animal welfare, to provide a vision and recommendations from the people of Scotland for how we should relate to and treat Scotland’s animals. Transform farming We are calling on all parties to accelerate a just transition away from industrial animal farming to plant rich diets and regenerative farming. As a first step, the next Scottish Government must end the use of all cages as an urgent priority – something we have long been campaigning for – and pause the expansion of the salmon farming industry until the suffering it causes is addressed. Tackle the ‘exotic pets’ animal welfare crisis As our Don’t Pet Me campaign has been highlighting, hundreds of species of wild animals are kept as pets across Scotland and can endure a range of harms. We are calling for a permitted list of species that can legally be kept as pets: those whose needs can be met in a home environment. We are also asking parties to commit to a range of measures to tackle different aspects of this problem, such as lack of knowledge, misinformation, and online influences. Wild animals As well as a necessary update to wildlife legislation, so that it protects all wild animals, we want to see a review of all trapping, and the use of animal welfare impact assessments. Party manifestos Once the parties’ manifestos have been published, we will be scrutinising them closely to see how much change their plans would bring for animals. Read our full manifesto here Manage Cookie Preferences