Extreme breeding has become a major animal welfare concern, especially in the last decade with the surge in popularity of extremely brachycephalic (flat-faced) dogs and other companion animals showing extreme features. Countries across Europe have tried with varied success, different initiatives from education, media campaigns, to regulation, legislation and multi stakeholder working groups to name a few, to tackle the issue.

This report aims at mapping the existing legislation on extreme breeding and extreme features in the EU and other European countries. Aware of the already applied measures across the EU Member States, and having the EU consumer and the EU Single Market in mind, the report is calling for EU-wide legislative initiative as a prominent instrument to effect change.

In this overview report we examine the response of the European Union, its Member States and the non-governmental organisations to animals affected by Russia’s war in Ukraine in 2022.

The objectives of this report are to summarise the shortcomings identified during the work of the Taskforce, as well as to open a discussion about what could be done by the EU and its Member States in order to improve the protection of animals in the event of disasters.

This overview report also aims to support the inclusion of animal welfare actors in a coordinated emergency response mechanism in the EU and its Member States.

The large majority of pets from illegal sources are sold online, and their lucrative trade across the EU is often disguised as the noncommercial movement of pets. These cats and dogs often do not comply with the health requirements established in the Regulation (EU) No 576/2013, are too young to have been vaccinated, and are accompanied by fraudulent passports which provide false information on their origin. The illegal Europe-wide trade in pets, which is facilitated by digital tools, threatens not just the welfare of the animals involved, but also animal health, public health and consumers. There is therefore an urgency to improve control mechanisms and revise the broken supply chain. A legal framework must also be provided to ensure this trade can happen in a sustainable, humane way.