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A Europe that Cares for Animals: Hear Their Voice

Political Advocacy
Brochure

Eurogroup for Animals provides a voice for the billions of animals kept in laboratories, farms and homes, and for those living in the wild. We drive positive change by working with our members to identify common goals and coordinate EU-wide action to influence laws and policies that offer higher standards of animal protection. Learn more about the organisation in this introductory brochure.

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Briefing: Chile. Animal Protection in EU Trade Negotiations

Trade & Animal Welfare
Report

This report will examine what is at stake for animals in the EU-Chile trade negotiations, calling for the talks to include a strong animal welfare dimension. We look at the state of play of livestock production in Chile, of trade flows in animal products between both partners, as well as describing existing Chilean animal welfare legislation. We focus on key sectors where the EU has good reasons to strive to establish animal welfare cooperation and apply conditional liberalisation with Chile – either because the EU imports some of these products or because Chile is a key global producer.

Protecting Animals to Protect the Planet

Farm Animals
Brochure

Animal protection has been for too long absent from the conversations on climate change. Yet, animals and animal-related sectors play a significant role in ensuring a transition towards climate-resilient societies. Intensive livestock farming represents a significant share of the planet’s emissions that cannot be ignored.

Food environments & EU food policy

Farm Animals
Policy Briefing

Food environments are increasingly at the heart of deliberations about food systems change. The concept has been adopted by a range of leading organisations and incorporated in a number of initiatives, including the European Union’s (EU) Farm to Fork Strategy. But what are food environments? What added value does the concept of ‘food environment’ bring to efforts to transition to sustainable food systems? And how do you change food environments for the better? The aim of this policy brief is to further sharpen understanding about food environments and what a ‘food environment approach’ entails for EU food policy and the transition to sustainable food systems.

No Animal Left Behind: The need for a new Kept Animals Regulation

Farm Animals
White Paper

The European Commission has an opportunity to deliver, in line with its ambitions contained in the Farm to Fork strategy, a future-proofed legal foundation for standards — evidence-based standards that provide the ability for all farmed animals to experience a positively affected mental state, thereby enabling them to lead lives that are truly worth living. Any farming practices that cannot meet such requirements should, in effect, be eliminated. Many animals such as fish, beef cattle, turkeys, rabbits, quails, sheep, and goats are neglected by current legislation and require species-specific welfare rules. In doing so, Europe would remain a world leader in animal welfare standards, citizens expectations would be met, and no animal would be left behind.

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No Animal Left Behind Report

Farm Animals
Report

With the knowledge that the animals we farm are sentient beings, comes the responsibility to provide them
with a good level of welfare. Many animals across the European Union are suffering due to inadequacies
and omissions in the current EU Directives, and a failure to enforce them. This report seeks to highlight key examples of where the current EU Directives (General Farming; 2007/43/EC, Broilers; 2008/120/EC, Pigs; 2008/119/EC and Layers; 1999/74/EC) are failing farmed animals in the EU. We call for no animal to be left behind in the revision of the animal welfare acquis.

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The UK Government’s badger cull infringes the Bern Convention

Wildlife
Policy Briefing

The UK is home to over half of the European Badger (Meles meles) population. A 2017 survey estimated the population in England and Wales to be 485,000. Since 2013, more than 140,000 badgers, a species listed on Annex III of the Bern Convention, have been killed under licence in England as part of the UK Government’s attempts to control bovine TB in cattle. In 2019, The Born Free Foundation, Badger Trust, and Eurogroup for Animals jointly submitted a Complaint to the Bern Convention, citing clear breaches of Articles 7, 8 and 9 of the Convention in relation to UK Government policy on badger culling in England.

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Wild Animals in EU Circuses: Problems, Risks and Solutions

Wildlife
Report

Today’s growing concerns about the ethics of using wild animals for public entertainment have led to increasing calls from the public to end this practice. In Europe, this is reflected in the national legislation of 24 Member States, as well as the UK’s England, Wales and Scotland, who have adopted restrictions on the use of either all, or exclusively wild, animals in circuses. This report provides an overview of the current legislation and restrictions on the use of animals in circuses in all EU Member States, with a particular focus on the process of enforcement of total bans on the use of wild animals in the respective countries. The goal of this analysis is to recommend solutions that can be adopted when phasing out the use of wild animals in circuses.

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Briefnote: Why the time is right for Europe and China to act for animals

Trade & Animal Welfare
Brochure

Over the past years, China’s political leadership has shown more openness to discussing animal welfare issues. The creation in 2013 of the International Cooperation Committee of Animal Welfare (ICCAW), a government backed non-profit organisation dedicated to ‘promoting animal welfare concepts, implementing animal welfare friendly farming systems and improving the quality and safety of livestock products’, was a first important step.

Magazine July 2021

Political Advocacy
Magazine

Themed around the final countdown of our No Animal Left Behind campaign, this edition of our Magazine features an interview with MEP Jytte Guteland, an update on End the Cage Age, and more.

EU Action Plan to phase out the use of animals in testing, research and education

Animals in Science
Policy Briefing

The five animal protection groups – Cruelty Free Europe, Eurogroup for Animals, the European Coalition to End Animal Experiments, Humane Society International/Europe and PETA – which together represent over 100 member organisations from 26 EU member states, strongly support the introduction of an oral question with motion for resolution calling for an EU Action Plan to phase out animal testing. Opinion polling carried out in June 2020 shows that nearly three quarters (72%) of adults in EU member states agree that the EU should set binding targets and deadlines to phase out testing on animals.

Summary of the “Accountability Report: the Karim Allah and Elbeik’s crises. Animal welfare during sea transport”, by Joaquín Ortega Abogados, S.L law firm

Farm Animals
Report

On 18th December 2020, the livestock vessels Karim Allah (1) and Elbeik (2) departed from the ports of Cartagena and Tarragona (Spain), bound for Iskenderun (Turkey). Originally foreseen as a 10-day journey from a European (EU) to a non-EU country, the 2,600 bovines onboard underwent a three-month odyssey with a fatal outcome. Animal Welfare Foundation (AWF) and Eurogroup for Animals, deeply concerned about the suffering the 2,600 bovines had to endure over a three months period, commissioned the law firm Joaquín Ortega Abogados, S.L. an in depth analysis of these two cases. The aim was to identify the roles and responsibilities of the actors involved in these transport operations. Evidence collected and reported by the law firm indicates that the welfare of the animals on board of these livestock vessels was seriously compromised.

Including Animal Welfare in EU Due Diligence

Trade & Animal Welfare
Policy Briefing

Eurogroup for Animals welcomes the forthcoming EU initiative aiming at further embedding sustainability into corporate governance, which may lead to the adoption of legislation establishing an EU-wide due diligence mechanism. In that context, Eurogroup for Animals strongly believes that the concept of due diligence currently developed at the EU level should encompass animal welfare.

Cultivated meat: An important piece in the puzzle of a sustainable food system

Farm Animals
Position Paper

As an alternative to industrial animal agriculture, cellular agriculture can offer thousands of kilos of meat grown in a controlled environment using cellular biology and tissue engineering. The production process is based on “cell culture technology” that has been used in Europe for decades, for example for growing yeasts for bread baking. Cultivated meat can provide one more important piece in a puzzle of multiple approaches to the necessary transition to a sustainable food system

Welfare of calves kept for white and rosé veal production

Farm Animals
Position Paper

In the European Union (EU), veal is defined as meat from calves up to 12 months of age. Calves farmed for white and rosé veal production, are likely to experience various health and welfare issues, due to early separation, transport from the farm of origin to a fattening one, housing and malnutrition.

Animal welfare at the time of killing and slaughter

Farm Animals
Position Paper

With almost 10 billion farmed animals slaughtered every year in the European Union, and the increased number of culling operations due to disease control, welfare at the time of slaughter and killing is a major concern. In May 2020 the European Commission announced the revision of the Slaughter Regulation to address major shortcomings. Eurogroup for Animals advocates to: align the legislative text with the latest scientific knowledge by, also, broadening its scope particularly to fish; address the major shortcomings and potential threats of the present rules; and enhance animal welfare by regulating mobile slaughter and favour on-farm killing of end-of-production animals.

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Animal Welfare in the implementation of the EU-Ukraine DCFTA

Trade & Animal Welfare
Policy Briefing

This briefing presents the evolution of the trade in animal products between both partners since the entry into force of the DCFTA, as well as the state of play in terms of animal welfare in Ukraine. It then explains why the EU should immediately address the impact the DCFTA has had on animal welfare, thus making the case for the EU to reject any additional market access for Ukrainian animal products until Ukraine implements EU-equivalent animal welfare standards.

Briefing: India. Animal Protection in EU Trade Negotiations

Trade & Animal Welfare
Report

The EU and India have been discussing a comprehensive trade agreement for almost 15 years and one of the main stumbling blocks remains the inclusion of provisions on Trade and Sustainable Development. While these trade negotiations are on hold, the political context is rapidly changing. The EU has launched its European Green Deal and a new Trade Strategy – which will have to “unequivocally support the Green Deal in all its dimensions”. In addition, the world is facing an increasing number of challenges that can only be resolved through international cooperation – climate change, biodiversity loss, antimicrobial resistance, spread of zoonoses – and at the heart of these challenges often lies the food system, and animal welfare.

Slaughter without stunning

Farm Animals
Position Paper

According to the Slaughter Regulation on the protection of animals at the time of killing, in the European Union (EU) animals shall be killed only after having been stunned, with a derogation to this rule for “animals subject to particular methods of slaughter prescribed by religious rites”. Due to the serious animal welfare concerns associated with slaughter without stunning, Eurogroup for Animals calls for repealing the derogation to mandatory stunning as set forth by Article 4.4 of the Council Regulation 1099/2009 (Slaughter Regulation). Resources should be urgently allocated to validating humane reversible stunning methods for all relevant species.

How can the Digital Services Act help to curb the illegal animal trade online?

Cats & Dogs
Policy Briefing

Until now, any focus on the criminal pet trade has concentrated on the animal welfare and consumer
fraud aspects, but it has become clear that illegal trade is structured and organised by criminal elements. Both EU and the Member States recognize the need to join forces to tackle this increasingly pressing problem and point to long-term solutions for the sake of protecting the European citizens and the Single Market. Similar to the fight of central and local governments against drug trade and human trafficking, combatting pet trade controlled by criminal gangs must be assisted by mechanisms of support at the EU level.

The European Commission’s evaluation on the EU Strategy for the Protection and Welfare of Animals (2012 - 2015)

Political Advocacy
Policy Briefing

The Animal Welfare Strategy 2012-2015 aimed to lay the foundation for improving animal welfare standards and to ensure that they were properly applied and enforced across the EU. Eurogroup for Animals congratulates the Commission on conducting a thorough and comprehensive evaluation process drawing lessons from the previous decade activities in the area of animal welfare. The evaluation shows that the Strategy’s implementation process clearly faced serious issues and did not deliver against its objectives or generate significant impact for animals. Given the evidence provided by the evaluation, Eurogroup for Animals appreciates the current Commission’s fresh approach: reviewing the animal welfare acquis among other actions as foreseen under the Farm to Fork strategy.

The EU campaigns to promote meat, eggs and dairy

Farm Animals
Report

Since 2014, the European Commission has subsidised numerous campaigns promoting the consumption of meat, eggs, and dairy products in the EU and globally. The European Commission’s contribution to these campaigns is vast, with millions spent each year. These financial contributions are inconsistent with the EU’s commitment to promoting sustainable, healthy diets and reducing meat consumption in the EU as laid out in the Biodiversity Strategy and the Farm to Fork strategy.

Communication on an EU Strategy to tackle organised crime (2021-2025): the need to include illegal animal trade

Cats & Dogs
Policy Briefing

As the illegal pet and wildlife trade carries low risks and high profits, it serves either as a diversification of income sources for organised crime groups, or as a main activity. Largely controlled by highly organised criminal structures, this multimillion euro industry clearly falls under the definition of organised crime, and must be addressed accordingly. Estimates of the value of wildlife trafficking alone reach up to EUR 8 billion to EUR 20 billion annually. To effectively fight this criminal activity, competent authorities must prioritise resources across all the illegal trade activities.

Magazine March 2021

Political Advocacy
Magazine

Themed around mink farming and its associated risks to human and animal health, this edition of our Magazine features an interview with MEP Anja Hazekamp, an update on our Stop Circus Suffering campaign, and more.