Brian May, guitarist for Queen, is backing the Labour party's animal charter, the Protecting Animals program, which seeks to protect animal rights.

"Under the present regime, British wildlife is severely persecuted and declining in all areas due to many factors, all of which are man-made," writes May in a statement.

"Until we begin to respect Nature and our planet's needs, we will continue to see the decline of populations precious in their own right, and vital to our own health and existence."

"The links between illegal wildlife crime and nationwide organized crime are beyond any doubt now, and, for the sake of all wild animals, we need to put all efforts into the fight against this savagery.

Many animals are disappearing right now from our planet - slow lorises and pangolins that now constitute 20 per cent of the illegal wildlife trade are being threatened with extinction.

We applaud Labour for taking the first committed step towards ending this appalling activity."