Europe has an opportunity to build a modern, digital and interoperable system for identifying and tracing horses, and Ireland’s experience highlights the importance of continued progress in this area.
Effective equine identification and traceability are essential to protecting horses, supporting responsible ownership, strengthening enforcement and tackling illegal activity.
The new Eurogroup for Animals report, Towards Modern Equine Traceability, examines the challenges facing current systems and sets out the case for a more modern, harmonised and digital approach. The NSPCA was pleased to contribute to this important work.
Ireland has made valuable progress in strengthening equine traceability, following the findings of the Wall Report on Equine Identification and Traceability. Building on this progress, further development of a fully digital, harmonised and interoperable system can help ensure that horses can be consistently identified and traced throughout their lives.
There is also a valuable opportunity to bring equines that are currently outside the formal identification and traceability system into it, ensuring that more horses can benefit from the protections that effective traceability provides.
Modernising equine traceability is an important opportunity to improve animal welfare, biosecurity and food safety, while supporting responsible horse ownership and helping to prevent and detect fraud and illegal activity.
The NSPCA is pleased to contribute to this important European discussion and looks forward to continued progress in Ireland and across the EU.
Read the Towards Modern Equine Traceability report from Eurogroup for Animals below 👇
