by Alessandro Sala
The images of an undercover investigation by CIWF relaunch the theme of overcoming current breeding methods raised by the End the Cage Age coalition. «The EU had already committed to doing so, respecting the will of its citizens»
The cages are so small that they prevent almost any movement. Apart from tiny movements from one side to the other, really tiny, they cannot turn around comfortably, much less make attempts to jump which would be in their nature. They persistently cling to the fence and it is not uncommon for them to injure their paws. They also hurt the mouth, because having nothing to chew, they spend their time gnawing on the iron structures of their tiny prisons. They spend their entire existence like this, sharing it with that of many of their peers raised in the same shed. With that of at least 70 million others like them, raised on EU farms for food purposes. It’s the reality of rabbits, certified by a new video investigation conducted by activists of Compassion in World Farming (Ciwf) in farms in Italy and Poland. But it is also that of other animals always raised in cages, such as pigs, calves, ducks or laying hens, for an estimated total, again in the community area, of around 300 million animals every year.
Unfortunately, the new images do not tell anything new. “And the truly shocking thing – the activists point out – is that all this is still legal.” It still is, despite the fact that the EU institutions have made a commitment to overcome the use of cages on farms, driven by the pressure of associations but also and above all by that of citizens. They had a good time one million and 400 thousand those who signed up to Ice – European citizens’ initiative, a sort of popular initiative law proposal – presented and illustrated to both the Commission and the EU Parliament.
Towards the end of the last legislature the process seemed to have begun. However, the elections effectively put everything on hold. The new Parliament is very different from the previous one and the president of the EU Commission herself, who in the first part of the previous mandate had pushed the Green Deal Ue and strategy Farm to Forkinitiatives aimed at an ecological transition of the main community policies, starting from those relating to agriculture and livestock, had shown themselves to be more cautious as the vote approached. Ursula von der Leyen she was reconfirmed in her role, but in the meantime the composition of the European Chamber has changed where today a greater number of parliamentarians who are not inclined to the renewal process sit.
Hence the coalition’s decision End the Cage Age – a grouping that brings together 170 associations from all 28 EU countries (the British ones also continue to be part of it), including 22 Italian – to relaunch the initiative by disseminating the images of the video investigation in the very week in which the hearings of the new European commissioners, currently still in pectore, resumed, including those on matters related to agricultural policies and animal welfare. According to a survey by Eurobarometerthe EU statistical institute, the vast majority of European citizens hope for breeding methods that are more attentive to the living conditions of animals, even if they are initially destined for slaughter.
“The EU Commission – the associations underline in a note – must keep its word and present the promised ban on the use of cages in breeding”. In recent years, the body chaired by von der Leyen had asked for various opinions fromEfsathe European food safety agency, on possible interventions to improve animal welfare. One of these was focused precisely on rabbit breeding. And the agency’s experts had highlighted various shortcomings on the animal welfare front, suggesting better regulation of the matter by providing for example larger cages but also more attention to other well-being factors, such as temperature regulation or slaughter procedures aimed at overcoming any unnecessary suffering even in the final phase of their lives.
November 10, 2024 (modified November 10, 2024 | 8:24 pm)
