{"id":735261,"date":"2026-08-12T04:30:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T04:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/735261\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T04:30:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T04:30:11","slug":"as-heatwaves-hit-britain-spare-a-thought-for-farm-animals-extreme-heat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/735261\/","title":{"rendered":"As heatwaves hit Britain, spare a thought for farm animals | Extreme heat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your article rightly highlights the strain heatwaves place on farming (Adapting to global heating: which UK public services are struggling in hot weather?, 5 August<\/a>). But the government\u2019s thinking on climate adaptation has a troubling blind spot down at the farm: animal\u00a0welfare.<\/p>\n

The Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022<\/a> requires ministers to consider animals as sentient beings when developing policy, yet\u00a0current discourse on heatwaves\u00a0and farming treats animals almost entirely as economic assets: deaths are framed as \u201creduced productivity\u201d, rather than as sentient individuals enduring terrible suffering.<\/p>\n

During the June heatwaves, French media reported that between 1 and 3 million birds died in a single week as temperatures hit 44C \u2013 deaths preceded by hours of panting, heat stress and organ failure. Pigs and poultry can begin suffering from heat above 27C, and when temperatures exceed 35C, British farms and livestock transport systems are pushing against the limits of what conventional cooling systems can contend with.<\/p>\n

As the Met Office warns of UK temperatures reaching 45C by 2056<\/a>, climate adaptation plans for farming must look beyond balance\u00a0sheets, recognising that what\u2019s at stake is not just the bottom line, but the suffering of millions of sentient beings.
Claire Bass
Senior director, campaigns and public affairs, Humane World for\u00a0Animals UK<\/p>\n

You are right to highlight the importance of libraries operating as \u201ccool spaces\u201d within communities. Such a facility will almost certainly become increasingly important for\u00a0groups vulnerable to heat-related stress.<\/p>\n

Yet, since 2016, over 180 libraries in the UK have been closed or turned over<\/a> to volunteers, with deprived communities four times more likely to lose their library as compared with richer ones. However, poorer areas are precisely those with least access to green and blue space, tree cover and other sources of protection from extreme heat.<\/p>\n

Given the crucial role of libraries in society \u2013 with relief from climate change now added to their\u00a0many other vital functions \u2013 a\u00a0programme\u00a0of reversal of a decade of cuts is long overdue.
Chris Phillipson
Emeritus professor of sociology and\u00a0social gerontology, University\u00a0of\u00a0Manchester<\/p>\n

To help with its plans to cope with extreme heat (NHS must prepare for annual summer heat pressures, says Yvette Cooper, 5 August<\/a>), why doesn\u2019t the Labour government implement a nationwide programme of restoring and refurbishing outdoor lidos that have fallen in to disrepair? They might even build some new ones.
Mick Beeby
Bristol<\/p>\n

So, we, working in the NHS<\/a>, must prepare for summer pressures in addition to winter pressures? That\u2019s\u00a0just pressure, isn\u2019t it? I\u2019m unclear as to what has changed.
Dr Julian McDonough
Sheffield<\/p>\n

Have an opinion on anything you\u2019ve read in the Guardian today? Please email<\/a> us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters<\/a> section.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your article rightly highlights the strain heatwaves place on farming (Adapting to global heating: which UK public services…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":735262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-735261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=735261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/735262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=735261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=735261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=735261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}