New Finnish Animal Welfare Law proposal disappoints

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New Finnish Animal Welfare Law proposal disappoints

1 October 2018
Animalia
News
Animalia condemns the new bill to the Finnish Animal Welfare Law which will be further challenged by the animal welfare advocates, since it's ignoring the opinions and recommendations of animal welfare experts.

The presented bill leaves a number of crucial animal welfare requirements ignored. All animals still won’t have continuous access to drinking water, registration and identification marking of dogs and cats will not be mandatory and animals’ movement will remain limited due to usage of anti-rotation cages. Cages are exceptionally harmful for pigs and fur animals, as they are continuously disabled to express their natural behavior.

This is unacceptable, especially since, according to 2016 Eurobarometer, 90% of Finns expressed that they want better protection for farm animals. This law proposal doesn’t respect the citizens’ will!

Mai Kivelä, Director of Animalia.

In spite of active participation in the law’s preparation, crucial animal welfare experts’ recommendations have again been ignored or overlooked. Kivelä stated that the lawmaking has been a series of disappointments for animals so far. Part of the law seems to be more of a bureaucratic exercise than directed by animal welfare experts’ recommendations, she pointed out.

The bill has already been contested earlier this year when citizens took part in a demonstration urging the government to address the most important development needs but also sanction a variety of practices that cause unnecessary pain and discomfort to animals.

This time the advocacy action will continue in the Finnish parliament on October 17 when Animalia will hand in the Animal Welfare Act petition signed by 100,000 Finnish citizens. We know the animals’ rights can never be fully realized in the framework of intensive farming. However, we must do everything to improve the animals’ living conditions, said Veikka Lahtinen, Animalia Campaigner.

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The post 'New Finnish Animal Welfare Law proposal disappoints' is modified from an article published by Animalia in their original language.