Virtual Meeting of the EU Platform on Animal Welfare

 JMICAWE Director, Cathy Dwyer, attended another virtual meeting of the EU Platform on Animal Welfare this week, in her role as one of the independent experts. This is the second virtual meeting of the Platform, but the 8th meeting overall since the Platform was set up in 2017. The whole platform is keen to be able to meet again in person in Brussels perhaps for the next meeting in June 2021.

The platform provides a regular update on the animal welfare activities of the EU and is a forum for discussion and networking between government vets, academics, industry representatives and animal welfare NGOs. The meeting began with a short address from the Commissioner, Stella Kyriakides, who re-affirmed her commitment to improving standards of animal welfare in the EU through reviewing the existing legislation and improving enforcement. A key part of this work is consideration of the option to develop an EU-wide animal welfare food label, and a sub-group of the Platform has been set up to look at how this might work.

A new development in the EU has been a European Citizens Initiative campaign, ‘End the Cage Age’ (www.endthecageage.eu), led by Compassion in World Farming, which calls for a ban in the use of cages for the housing of laying hens, rabbits, pigs and dairy calves by 2027. The campaign has received more than 1.4 million verified signatures of support across the EU, so ensuring a public hearing and response from the Commission. Although some EU countries have already banned some cages, there are still many millions of animals spending some or all their lives in cages in commercial production in the EU, and this is the most common housing c
ondition for pigs, rabbits and poultry around the world. However, the research has clearly shown that such close confinement results in high levels of stress and poor welfare.

Also presented at the meeting was the work of two other sub-groups of the platform working on welfare issues in horses and donkeys and the welfare of dogs and cats kept for trade. Each of these sub-groups are developing guidelines and factsheets to help improve the welfare of these species. The guidelines to good animal welfare practice for the keeping, care, training and use of horses have been developed and 7 factsheets have also been produced on infectious disease and biosecurity, feed, water, hoof care, social interactions and comfort behaviours, stables-indoor housing, turnout – shelter and pasture. Infographics and leaflets on selling and buying dogs have also been produced. These materials can be accessed from the Platform conclusions site of the European Commission website (https://ec.europa.eu/food/animals/welfare/eu-platform-animal-welfare/platform_conclusions_en)

Overall, the meeting was very positive and demonstrated the commitment of the Commission to animal welfare improvements in the EU, and to supporting farmers and consumers in developing and accessing higher welfare products.