More than 160 NGOs, including Compassion in World Farming EU, sent an open letter to the European Commission on Thursday 5 December asking it to stop the stop caging farm animals and ensure that the EU “remains a leader in animal welfare legislation”. This letter is part of the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) to end the use of cages, which recently collected more than 1.6 million signatures (see EUROPE 12267/25).
The letter calls on the Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, the Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides, and the Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, to introduce legislation to end the “inhuman practice” of farming animals in cages.
More than 300 million pigs, hens, rabbits, ducks, quails and calves are imprisoned in cages across the EU. “Most cages are barren, cramped, and deny the animals space to move freely”, the NGOs explain.
To read the NGOs letter: http://bit.ly/2qsLYyk (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)