Animal welfare victory: the CJEU ruling confirms Member States right to introduce mandatory pre-slaughter stunning

17 December 2020

Today is a historic day for animals, as the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) clarified that Member States are allowed to impose mandatory pre-slaughter stunning.

The case raised from the ban adopted by the Flemish Government (BE) in July 2019 which made stunning compulsory also for the production of meat by means of traditional Jewish and Muslim rites.

The verdict ruled that the EU Governments can legitimately introduce mandatory reversible stunning in the framework of Art. 26.2(c) of the Council Regulation 1099/2009 (Slaughter Regulation), with the aim to  improve animal welfare during those killing operations carried out in the context of religious rites.

It clearly states that the Slaughter Regulation “does not preclude Member States from imposing an obligation to stun animals prior to killing which also applies in the case of slaughter prescribed by religious rites” .

 This judgment considers the latest development on reversible stunning as a method that successfully balances the apparently competing values of religious freedom and animal welfare, and it concludes that “the measures contained in the (Flemish) decree allow a fair balance to be struck between the importance attached to animal welfare and the freedom of Jewish and Muslim believers to manifest their religion”.

Eurogroup for Animals has followed the Court case closely and in October it released an opinion poll showing that EU citizens do not want to see animals slaughtered while fully conscious.

“It is now clear that our society doesn’t support animals to unduly suffer at the most critical time of their lives. Reversible stunning makes it possible to successfully balance the apparently competing values of religious freedom, and the concern for animal welfare under current EU law. Acceptance of pre-slaughter stunning by religious communities is increasing both in EU and non-EU countries. Now it’s time for the EU to make pre-slaughter stunning always mandatory in the next revision of the Slaughter Regulation” commented Reineke Hameleers, CEO, Eurogroup for Animals

Throughout the years, experts have raised concerns about the serious animal welfare implications of killing without pre-cut stunning (FVE, 2002; EFSA, 2004; BVA, 2020), as acknowledged by the Court itself, in another case (C-497/17).

The case will now go back to the Flanders’ constitutional court which will have to confirm and implement the CJEU’s ruling. Furthermore, the imminent revision of the Slaughter Regulation, as announced by the European Commission in the framework of the EU Farm to Fork strategy, gives the chance to further clarify the matter by making pre-slaughter stunning always compulsory and move towards a Europe that cares for animals.

ENDS

Notes

Opinion poll on slaughter 

Summary of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) case C-336/19

Amicus Curiae on CJEU case

Advocate General opinion

Additional from WAV:

Electrical stunning

An electrical stunning device (applied to the head only) must pass sufficient current through the brain of the animal to interrupt normal brain activity and render the animal immediately unconscious. Electrical stunning (or electronarcosis) is reversible as it disrupts normal brain function for a short time only. An electrical stunning system requires the correct voltage, current and application time to be delivered for the stun to result in instantaneous and painless unconsciousness.

How are animals stunned prior to slaughter?

WAV Comment:

17/12 – We have had the following in to us from SAFE, New Zealand. 

They have achieved major wins legally for animals over the last few weeks; now it is time to ramp up the pressure even more and get the government to act.

From SAFE:

Kia ora Mark

We achieved victory for mother pigs, now we need Government action 

Today SAFE and the New Zealand Animal Law Association (NZALA) have published a full-page open letter in the New Zealand Herald, asking the Prime Minister to appoint a Commissioner for Animals. 

Last month, the High Court found that the Minister of Agriculture and his advisors from the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC) acted illegally when they failed to phase out farrowing crates and mating stalls for mother pigs. 

Now that the Government has accepted the Court’s decision, it is time to take animal welfare seriously. We need you to add your voice to ensure this happens. 

TAKE ACTION – Demand the government now has a commissioner for animals.

The High Court has ruled that the Minister of Agriculture and his advisors from the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC) acted illegally when they failed to phase out farrowing crates and mating stalls for mother pigs.  

The Court’s decision shows that NAWAC did not perform its legal duty well and was biased, consciously or unconsciously, towards industry interests. It also highlights that although New Zealand has some of the best animal welfare laws in the world, there are significant shortcomings with regulation and enforcement of the law. 

The Government has accepted the Court’s decision, and we are now asking for some essential changes, starting with the appointment of a Commissioner for Animals. 

A Commissioner for Animals should be appointed to oversee NAWAC, advocate for animals and ensure that NAWAC is accountable. 

The Government must now take the Court’s decision seriously and show respect to animals and our animal welfare laws. With the appointment of a commissioner for Animals, New Zealand could once again be a world leader in animal welfare.

ACT NOW:  Go to –

Demand a Commissioner for Animals and an independent NAWAC – SAFE | For Animals

Demand a Commissioner for Animals

Write a polite email to Prime Minister Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern and Agriculture Minister Hon Damien O’Connor telling them why you want a Commissioner for Animals.

Key points you can make:

• Following the High Court’s decision on farrowing crates, it’s time for the Government to take animal welfare seriously and appoint a Commissioner for Animals.
• New Zealand needs a Commissioner for Animals to oversee NAWAC, advocate for animals and ensure that NAWAC is accountable. 
• New Zealand has some of the best animal welfare laws in the world, however we need to ensure that these laws are properly enforced.  
• If New Zealand wants to consider itself a world leader on animal welfare, then it’s clear that NAWAC needs oversight from an independent commissioner that reports directly to Parliament. 
• NAWAC must undergo structural and cultural changes to be able to exercise its legal duty, starting with a Commissioner for Animals to oversee NAWAC and ensure the needs of animals are met.   

Thanks – it time for action and demands to be met;

WAV.

Alarming scenes captured at Scottish salmon farms supplying Co-op, Sainsbury’s, Lidl, Aldi, Morrisons and M&S reveal putrid conditions that lead to invasions of parasitic sea lice. Painful non-medicinal lice management systems that breach basic animal welfare standards on the treatment of farmed animals were also filmed – one of which was operating in a designated Special Area of Conservation and Marine Protected Area famous for its rare flame shell bed.

Around 70 per cent of Scottish salmon farms are RSPCA Assured, while the remainder conform to other supposedly ‘high welfare’ certification schemes such as Best Aquaculture Practices, Marin Trust, GGN Certified Aquaculture and GlobalG.A.P.

More images from the investigation can also be publicly viewed on Flickr.

Promoted as a ‘sustainable’ solution to overfishing, modern aquaculture confines fish in fetid cages by their thousands, creating a breeding ground for disease and causing widespread suffering.

Whilst adult wild salmon are well adapted to coping with the odd sea louse – a parasite that naturally occurs in the sea – the intensification of salmon farming has led to fundamental changes in the density and occurrence of lice in coastal waters. Although one or two lice per salmon may not sound like a real threat, when you multiply that by hundreds of thousands within a sea cage, the consequences are catastrophic.

The lice reproduce rampantly, feeding on skin, mucus and blood, which produces white ‘death crowns’ of exposed flesh on the salmon. Clearly suffering, the infected fish are regularly seen jumping up to 30 centimetres in the air and skimming along the water surface with their tails in attempts to dislodge the bugs. Large numbers of these lice can be devastating, causing skin lesions, loss of scales, secondary infection and ultimately death.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, huge numbers of juvenile sea lice also escape to the local marine environment, causing significant damage to wild salmon and sea trout smolts, whose fragile skin is not yet adapted to coping with parasites on this level.

In response to the invasion of sea lice, the aquaculture industry breeds millions of lumpfish ‘cleaners’ that feed on sea lice, in futile endeavours to control the outbreaks. Other techniques include chemical washes or mechanical treatments such as hydrolicers and thermolicers.

Hydrolicers

During a hydrolice treatment, fish are drawn into a ‘washing machine’ type device through two lines by live fish pumps. Each system line includes a fish counter, two hydrolicer combi units, fish pumps, water separating units and a filtration system to ensure that all the lice can be removed from the water and destroyed.

As the salmon pass through the system, they are sprayed with freshwater jets to dislodge lice that are not adapted to non-seawater conditions. Eye damage, increased stress levels and death are all consequences of the process.

According to the Scottish Government, fish farms have reported killing 269,674 salmon in hydrolicers between 2016 and 2019. That’s an average of 67,418 a year.

Thermolicers

Like with hydrolicer treatments, salmon are herded and pumped up from the sea pen through a tube. Exiting the tubes the fish pass through a tank of warm water, before being ejecting back out into the opposite side of the sea cage. The water is heated up to 34 degrees, which can be 20 degrees above the seawater temperature. It takes around 25-30 seconds for the fish to pass through the entire ‘processing loop’.

Sea lice are sensitive to sudden changes in water temperature and so die and fall off once the salmon hit the heated water. They are then collected and destroyed.

Recent scientific research has found that salmon exposed to water temperatures above 28 degrees centigrade behaved as if they were in pain. Marine and veterinary researchers in Norway observed fish swimming faster, crashing into tank walls and shaking their heads.

According to the Scottish Government, fish farms have reported killing 177,601 salmon in thermolicers between 2016 and 2019. That’s an average of 44,400 a year.

“In my expert opinion and based upon scientific studies from other laboratories, [hydrolicers and thermolicers] contravene the FAWC five freedoms, the RSPCA (2018) welfare standards for farmed Atlantic salmon and the Animal Welfare Act (2006) resulting in harm and poor welfare and should not be employed within the Atlantic salmon farming industry.”

– Dr Lynne Sneddon (Senior Academic, University of Gothenburg)

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Putrid conditions and severe overcrowding on Scottish salmon farms lead to parasitic sea lice invasions that kill fish and destroy the surrounding environment. End Factory Farming, Before It Ends Us.

  viva.org.uk/scottish-salmon

#EndFactoryFarming #EFF

Investigation: Scottish Salmon | Viva! – The Vegan Charity