WAV Comment: I really wish I had an ounce of faith that all these Euro Yukspeak words actually meant something; but I completely lost faith in the Eurojargon about better animal welfare many years ago. Over 30 years of live animal transportation investigations and experiences may have had something to do with the loss of faith in ‘the system’ that protects animals, in this case, during transport – EU Reg 1/2005 for the ‘protection of animals during transport’: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2018/621853/EPRS_STU(2018)621853_EN.pdf
So the countdown is officially on ?
Now they talk about 7 key demands – and for so long over the years we have heard from the very same people about we the ‘five freedoms’ which should apply to animals:
The Five Freedoms include:
- Freedom from Hunger and Thirst. By ready access to fresh water and diet to maintain health and vigour.
- Freedom from Discomfort. …
- Freedom from Pain, Injury or Disease. …
- Freedom to Express Normal Behaviour. …
- Freedom from Fear and Distress.
These Five Freedoms are globally recognized as the gold standard in animal welfare, encompassing both the mental and physical well-being of animals; and the five freedoms have existed within EU strategy for quite a long time.
With so much undercover footage being presented to the EU over the years from farms, slaughterhouses, animals in transport, etc, showing failures across all the freedoms, I guess we can say that the EU does not practice what it preaches. Yet here we are being told that there will be 7 key demands that will ‘shed light on the failures and poor enforcement of the current animal welfare legislation and call on the European Commission to commit to revising the entire legislation, leaving no animal behind’.
I really hope that no animal is ‘left behind’; but as I say, with a few years experience, and running animal welfare websites since 2005, cynical me thinks this is simply another stalling tactic by the EU simply because certain member states are not enforcing the regulations. Romania and the sheep transporting ship which overturned leaving Midia – Romania: Secret Decks of Sheep On The ‘Queen Hind’ Which Sank at Midia ??. We Still Wait For EU Action and the Report Promised by the Romanian Government. – World Animals Voice – February 2021, and still we have no answers ! So much for 5 freedoms, let alone 7 key demands !
The EU lost the plot on all this many, many years ago; and I think the very recent incidents relating to the ‘Karim Allah’ and the ‘Elbeik’; where live animals were shipped around the Med for over 3 months, just shows what a complete and utter farce the whole EU ‘animal welfare’ thing is. And I mean; 2 of our past posts:
Spain: 10/3/21 – All Animals On The ‘Karim Allah’ Have Now Been Murdered By The Spanish Authorities After 3 Months at Sea. The Reality of Live Exports. – World Animals Voice
Togo: Live Animal Transport: Elbeik Still At Sea with 1700 Animals and Over 100 Feared Dead – Expected to Dock In Cartagena, Spain Tonight. ‘Karim Allah’ Killing Team Still In Cartegena. What Happens Later ? – World Animals Voice
Do not have any trust in the EU and its yukspeak, because that is exactly what it is – Yukspeak; or to put it another way; a means to investigate, delay action and produce yet more reports of the bloody obvious which everyone in the animal welfare lobby has known about and has been shouting about, and providing substantial evidence for decades.
The EU is an over inflated no good – if it had any intentions of promoting animal welfare, then it would have acted a damn site more on animal transport alone when we saw the 1/2005 of that year come into force. They failed then, they fail now, and they will continue to fail in the future. Sadly, as always; it is the innocent animals that are the pawns, and who suffer as a result.
Regards Mark.
Reference:
https://www.eurogroupforanimals.org/news/no-animal-left-behind-how-2021-could-be-year-we-change-future-farmed-animals
No Animal Left Behind: How 2021 could be the year we change the future for farmed animals
15 March 2021
The countdown is officially on: With the European Commission currently reviewing the animal welfare legislation, Eurogroup for Animals, together with its 70 members across Europe, is today launching its campaign for farmed animals. With 7 key demands, the campaign will shed light on the failures and poor enforcement of the current animal welfare legislation and call on the European Commission to commit to revising the entire legislation, leaving no animal behind.
2021 offers a very important window of opportunity for animal welfare in the EU: In the context of the Farm to Fork Strategy, a policy initiative by the European Commission with the overarching aim of making European food systems fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly, the European Commission is currently assessing the animal welfare legislation to evaluate whether it is fit for purpose. A review like this is not only rare and long-overdue, but is in fact also the first of its kind for animal welfare legislation.
Europe’s animal welfare laws were introduced over the last 40 years, but as countless investigations by Eurogroup for Animals’ members have shown over and over again, they are not protecting billions of animals. Hungry, malnourished or thirsty animals, physically restricted and confined, without natural light or fresh air, too hot or too cold, living in preventable pain every day. The list of legal violations of animal welfare seems endless and cruel.
There are also serious gaps which leave millions of terrestrial farmed animals and billions of farmed fish unprotected as there is no specific animal welfare legislation for a long list of them: dairy and beef cattle beyond six months old, farmed and wild-caught fish, sheep and goats, the parent birds of broiler chickens and laying hens, pullets, turkeys, ducks and geese, quails, and farmed rabbits.
Further to that, each year, millions of chickens, sheep, goats, horses, pigs and bovines are transported alive within the EU and to third countries. Journeys can last several days or even weeks, exposing animals to exhaustion, dehydration, injury, disease and even death. Investigations carried out by Eurogroup for Animals’ members have repeatedly uncovered serious breaches of the EU Transport Regulation. Most recently, two vessels left Spain back in December 2020 and after three months most of the animals are still onboard or slowly being unloaded to be killed, as no longer considered fit for transport.
Together with our 70 members, Eurogroup for Animals joins forces with citizens across Europe to call on the European Commission to make sure that an ambitious full-scale review takes place, that the campaign’s demands for the best possible welfare standards are heard, and that no animal is left behind in this process.
In this citizens driven campaign, we will release 7 key demands to showcase the serious failures and poor enforcement of the legislation and to underline that farmed animal welfare laws must do more than protect every animal from neglect and cruelty, and minimise their suffering. They should also actively promote a positive state of health and wellbeing.
“Our current animal welfare laws massively fail to protect animals, as a result billions of farmed animals across Europe suffer every day. It is due time for the European Commission to act and commit to an ambitious review of its animal welfare legislation, making sure that no animal is left behind.”
commented Reineke Hameleers, CEO, Eurogroup for Animals.
This campaign comes at a crucial time, citizens’ calls to act on animal welfare, climate and health crisis have become louder and louder. Most recently, as part of the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) “End The Cage Age”, 1.4 million citizens across Europe have called on the EU to put an end on the use of cages in animal farming.
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