About: animal welfare

Fur farmers failures to meet minimum EU animal welfare standards must be investigated

Exposés of animal suffering on EU fur farms repeatedly reveal failures to comply with even the basic animal welfare requirements of Directive 98/58/EC concerning the protection of animals kept for farming purposes, writes Sylwia Spurek.

Animal health law: A power tool against illegal puppy trade?

The EU needs around 8 million puppies annually to meet consumer demand - far beyond legitimate breeders’ capacity. As a result, the illegal online puppy trade is booming, and state-of-the-art trafficking networks benefit from a market approximately worth over €1 billion per year, writes Georgia Diamantopoulou.

Big agri-food industry aims to kill ‘End The Cage Age’ initiative

The Big Agri industry has launched a multi-pronged attack on the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) to End The Cage Age – a direct democracy tool that enables European citizens to request an end to the use of cages for farm animals, writes Olga Kikou.

Citizens are fed up with industrial agriculture

Europe's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was a big issue at this year's Green Week in Berlin. With all the billions of euros available, the agro-ecological transition is more than possible, especially if subsidies to agribusiness and factory farms were stopped, write Harriet Bradley and Trees Robijns.

Putting an end to cosmetics testing on animals, definitively

The EU ban on animal testing for cosmetics was a huge step forward but a global ban is the only guarantee that no animal will have to suffer or die for the sake of a shampoo or lipstick ever again, writes Kerry Postlewhite.

Why the tide is turning on fur farming in Europe

As ethical and animal welfare concerns grow, fur farming bans are spreading across Europe. The tide is turning and this is the time to show why the fur industry belongs in the past, write Joh Vinding and Reineke Hameleers.

New organic rules and animal welfare: Meeting social expectations or not?

The EU organic logo brings certain guarantees about high standards of animal welfare, and EU institutions ought to show strong commitment to address weaknesses in regards to animal welfare rules, writes Olga Kikou.

Time to move fish welfare from principle to practice

The unseen life of farmed fish has given them low visibility in civil society, in policy circles, and in the animal welfare movement, despite scientific consensus that fish are sentient, and suffer pain, fear, and stress. Now it is time to act, writes Douglas Waley.

Farming innovation is staple for Europe’s food security

As the United Nations celebrate World Milk Day, Ramiro Cabral highlights a seemingly impossible challenge: producing more food in a manner that uses less land, water, feed and energy, all the while ensuring animal welfare.

Time for EU rabbit farming to enter the 21st century

Raising rabbits for food used to be a back yard enterprise. Not anymore, writes Olga Kikou, who urges the adoption of EU-wide standards to improve the living condition of farmed rabbits in Europe.

Animal welfare deserves better from investment policy

International finance institutions and member state export credit agencies continue to invest in projects outside the EU involving cruel farm animal confinement systems banned in the EU. Better joined-up thinking is needed with regard to investment policy and animal welfare, writes Joanna Swabe.

Avoiding milk losses with healthier cows

One in three dairy cows in Europe suffer from disease, causing more than five billion milk servings to be discarded annually, writes Ramiro Cabral.

Animal health matters: Can EU legislation deliver?

Disease outbreaks such as Ebola and avian influenza serve as a stark reminder that human and animal health will always be inter-connected, writes Roxane Feller.

CAP and animal welfare: Simply incompatible

Livestock production has been at the centre of the intensification in agriculture brought by Europe's Common Agriculture Policy (CAP), writes Olga Kikou. These policies have put farmers under pressure, and created conditions for overproduction, she says.

Distinctions must be made between ideology and animal welfare

Animal welfare is not the true motive behind activist crusades against the fur industry ? it is ideology wrapped in sheep’s clothing, write Kenneth Ingman and Mette Lykke Nielsen.

It is time to see through the marketing tactics of the European fur industry

Member states have an opportunity to play a leading role for animal welfare globally by phasing out fur farming, write Salla Tuomivaara and Siri Martinsen.

Milk production in the EU: Holding on to the fantasy, or facing the truth?

Recent protests about the falling price of milk have turned the spotlight on the dairy sector. But large scale dairy farming has the potential to exacerbate existing problems, writes Olga Kikou.

New Commission proposal is good for seal protection

The EU must uphold its ban on seal products and not bow to hunting lobbies, writes David Martin.

The inhumane trade in European farm animals

The European Union's animal welfare legislation is regarded as among the best in the world. But exported animals are no longer protected by EU transport or slaughter welfare laws once they leave its borders, writes Olga Kikou.

Commission needs to comply with promised launch of sustainable food communication

The promised launch of the Communication on Sustainable Food by the European Commission, initially planned for 2013, has once again been postponed. This is a significant set back for the much-needed reevaluation of Europe’s food system, write a group of NGOs.

Why maintaining animal well-being safeguards public health

Caring for animal's health is important not only from the welfare perspective of the animal but also for humans. Prevention programmes such as vaccination will protect pets from a number of diseases, which in turn can protect people too, writes Declan O'Brien.

European fightback must begin against factory pig farming

Across Europe industrial pig farming is encroaching on traditional farming methods and putting small farmers out of business, writes Tracy Worcester, director and producer of the documentary 'Pig Business'. Just as the USA is about to enforce higher animal welfare standards, the EU ought to follow suit, she argues.