Day: May 25, 2024

Farm Animals, General News

Austria: 14 Animal Rights Activists Arrested In Front Of The Ministry.

On Thursday, 14 animal rights activists were arrested in front of the Ministry of Agriculture in Vienna. According to their own statement, they had held out there for seven hours to speak to Minister Norbert Totschnig (ÖVP). Their request: an end to the fully slatted floor.

The 20 animal rights activists came to the Ministry of Agriculture on Thursday as a “delegation of pigs”, according to a press release from the VGT Association Against Animal Factories. When they were not received by Minister Norbert Totschnig (ÖVP), they waited in the entrance area and some of them chained themselves with bicycle locks around their necks.

On Thursday, 20 animal rights activists gathered in front of the Ministry of Agriculture to demand an end to fully slatted floors. (Image: VGT.at)

VGT chairman Martin Balluch posted several photos of the action. “Even if the minister has once again buried his head in the sand, the problem will not go away. A ban on full slatted floors is necessary,” he wrote on Platform X. The interests of the animals must be taken into account, according to a statement.

14 activists in police custody
According to the VGT members, they held out in front of the Ministry of Agriculture in Vienna for a whole seven hours. The police then cut the activists loose and arrested 14 out of a total of 20. They were taken into police custody.

Fully slatted floors are usually concrete floors with slits through which the animals’ manure and urine fall into the slurry pit below. Straw is not used. According to Statistics Austria, around 70 percent of pigs in Austria are kept on fully slatted floors (as of 2020). The law stipulates, for example, a certain width for the slats and a minimum distance between them.

See more pictures at https://www.krone.at/3388281

Mark

Farm Animals, General News, Live Transport

EU: Are EU Companies Paying Due Diligence To Animal Welfare?

24 May 2024

New EU rules will introduce requirements for large companies to address the environmental and human rights impacts of their operations and value chains. While animal welfare is not included in the obligations, the text recognises that companies should contribute to protecting ecosystems and the well-being of animals.

Following a two-year process, the Council gave the final approval to the legislative proposal today. The European Parliament already approved the file on 24 April.

As the legislation applies to large companies (with over 1,000 employees and a turnover of more than 450 million euros), several types of companies involved in animal-based food production will be subject to the Directive. For example, large producers of animal-based products and feed would be required to integrate due diligence policies across the company. 

For instance, they should identify actual or potential adverse impacts to human rights or to the environment arising from their production, prevent them, or bring them to an end should they occur. Potential impacts could include the expansion of livestock production into forests or pollution coming from a farm’s operations.

Moreover, the Directive acknowledges the One Health approach, as recognised by the World Health Organization, underlining the link between the health of humans, domestic and wild animals, and the wider environment. It also includes the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) among the list of international environmental instruments to be complied with.

Above – Foie Gras Force Feeding – and Death As A Result

Eurogroup for Animals calls on the EU Member States to incorporate animal welfare when transposing the legislation into national law. Building on the progress for animals in the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct and the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, Member States must go further by setting stricter due diligence requirements for animal welfare.

NO ! – They are NOT Paying Due Diligence To Animal Welfare?

Regards Mark

General News, Uncategorized

EU: European Citizens’ Initiatives: The Commission Cannot Ignore Its Own Democratic Tools.

23 May 2024

Press Release

Eurogroup for Animals and Slow Food have sent a joint letter to the European Commission, urgently demanding concrete actions on the ECIs “End the Cage Age” and “Save Bees and Farmers”!

Democratic participatory tools, designed to empower citizens in shaping EU legislation, are being disregarded by the European Commission (EC), raising concerns over the lack of action on commitments made in response to European Citizens’ Initiatives (ECIs).

In a joint letter addressed to Vice President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency Věra Jourová, Eurogroup for Animals and Slow Food expressed their concern on the inaction of the EC in response to citizens’ demands. Specifically, the NGOs highlighted the ECIs  End the Cage Age  and  Save bees and farmers!, which both initially received clear commitments from the EC, only to be later backtracked. This failure by the EC to follow through calls into question the very raison d’etre of the ECI instrument itself and severely undermines the trust that citizens have in the EU’s democratic process. 

Despite its objective to enable participatory democracy, none of the ten successful ECIs have resulted in  concrete legislative outcomes, indicating that citizens’ demands have only had a marginal influence on the Commission’s legislative agenda.

The two NGOs also emphasised that the absence of a sustainable food system framework continues to jeopardise the very objectives of the EU’s Green Deal ambitions, at a time when all studies show there is a critical need for a transition to resilient farming and a focus on dietary shifts.

EU Citizens have been resoundingly vocal on the need for better legislation to protect animals, yet, the impact of democratic participatory tools have so far only been marginal. As we head to the European elections, we call on the European Commission to answer to the calls of citizens and come forward with action plans on these ECIs,

Reineke Hameleers, CEO, Eurogroup for Animals

So many EU citizens have mobilised around European Citizens’ Initiatives in the past years. Such a widespread engagement cannot keep being dismissed by the European Commission, because it undermines the democratic principles upon which the EU is founded. It erodes trust in the political process and risks alienating citizens who are eager to contribute to shaping policies that affect their lives

Marta Messa, Slow Food’s Secretary General

Eurogroup for Animals and Slow Food urge the European Commission to promptly address these issues and take concrete actions to fulfil the commitments made in response to ECIs. 

Regards Mark

Farm Animals, General News, Live Transport

UK: United Kingdom Bans Live Animal Export.

21 May 2024

CIWF

The Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Act, which has now been enshrined in law, means that farm animals can no longer be exported from Great Britain for slaughter or fattening.

The passing of this legislation marks over five decades of campaigning against the cruel live export trade, which sees animals make gruelling journeys by road and sea, often only to be slaughtered at the end of the voyage. 

During such journeys animals suffer from overcrowding, exhaustion, dehydration and stress.

The bill was first raised in 2017 by the Conservative party, promoted as a benefit of Brexit since EU trade rules prevent member states from banning live exports to other countries in the union.

The ban has been celebrated by campaigners such as Compassion in World Farming as a landmark victory.

For decades, farmed animals have endured these senseless and arduous exports to the continent – but no longer! I am phenomenally proud of our supporters whose dedication and persistence have helped secure this hard-fought victory.

Philip Lymbery, President, Eurogroup for Animals

The news follows Australia’s recent announcement of a phase out of live export of sheep. 

Pressure is mounting on the European Commission to follow suit and finally bring an end to the export of live animals from EU ports.