Cathy Dwyer's role as independent expert on EU Animal Welfare Platform

JMICAWE Director completes her 3 years’ service on the EU Animal Welfare Platform

JMICAWE Director, Cathy Dwyer, has just completed her 3-year appointment to the EU Animal Welfare Platform as an independent expert on the platform. She now steps down from the platform as the UK’s departure from the EU means she is no longer eligible to apply for another term of membership.

During the last 3 years, Cathy has attended the 6-monthly meetings of the platform which provides updates on the most recent activities of the EU with respect to animal welfare, as well as reports on a number of sub-groups considering a range of issues from welfare guides for horses and donkeys, the welfare issues of a range of farmed species, and the usefulness of a welfare labelling scheme to ensure that products meet particular standards of welfare. In the last year, the publication of the Farm to Fork strategy has set ambitious goals for improving welfare within a sustainability framework, and kicked off a period of re-evaluation of the welfare legislation and compliance within the EU. It is hard to believe that some of the legislation is now more than 20 years old, and needs to be revised and reconsidered in the light of the last two decades of research and evidence gathering.

Of particular interest at the most recent meeting in June, was the impact of the End the Cage Age petition, which gained sufficient support from EU citizens to require a debate in the EU parliament. On 10th June the EU parliament overwhelmingly voted to end the keeping of farmed animals in cages by 2027. This should mean that millions of laying hens, farrowing sows and farmed rabbits, amongst other species, will no longer be kept in restrictive environments that do not allow them to stretch, move about and turn around. This is potentially a big step forward to achieve more ethical farming practices, and to improve the lives of animals kept in Europe. 

Cathy said - 

‘It has been really interesting to hear the latest animal welfare developments in the EU, and it feels now that there are a lot of actions starting to happen to improve animal lives, especially for farmed animals.’

Photo credit: Marianne Farish, SRUC