“I’ve spent my life fighting to further the protections of animals, making sure that our laws respect animal sentience and reduce animal suffering. I’ll continue the fight to make sure that our animal welfare laws set an example to the rest of the world.”
-DAME ANDREA JENKYNS
Dame Andrea is a lifelong animal advocate, vegetarian, and loving pet owner. She has used her position in Parliament to further the protections of animals, bringing national attention to animal welfare issues, at home and around the world.
In 2020, Andrea launched her campaign, Animals Matter, to bring attention to cruelty against animals. Working with the Humane Society International (HSI) and Four Paws UK, Andrea brought attention to the cruel treatment of cats and dogs used for their meat in Southeast Asia. Working with President Ian Khama of Botswana, Andrea brought attention to world leading policies of his government, which saw a drastic fall in trophy hunting across Africa.
In parliament she campaigned intensely on animal welfare matters for over nine years, including standing opposed to her own party of government. She launched a petition and collected over 20,000 signatures to try to overturn Rishi’s rollback on the Kept Animals Bill.
With this she managed to secure the support of many well-known animal welfare campaigners, who showed their support by recording videos messages. This included Actors Peter Egan, and James Dreyfuss, Vet Marc Abraham, Dominic Dyer, Dr Daniel Allen, Hope Rescue. Television personality Rachel Riley also promoted her petition on-line and she was interviewed by Andrew Marr Show on LBC, Talk TV, Good Morning Britain, Times Radio, and her petition was featured in the Guardian and the Daily Express.
Dame Andrea has campaigned on issues such as pet theft, the badger cull, Finns Law, against fox hunting, End the Cage Age, Ban Trophy Hunting, Banning Live Exports, Non-Stun Slaughter. She has written articles on animal welfare including mass produced ‘FrankenChicken’.
Andrea hosted the Team Fox event in parliament, working with Brian May, Anne Brummer, Peter Egan and Campaign Against Cruel Sports. She worked with Marc Abraham on Lucy’s Law and hosted his first event in parliament in 2015.
My Animals Matter Campaign