Today's approval of the new animal husbandry labeling law by the traffic light factions is a great disappointment for all animal welfare activists, but above all for the animals in agriculture, commented Thomas Schröder, President of the German Animal Welfare Federation:
"The Animal Husbandry Labeling Act passed today does not help a single animal to a better life. Anyone who suggests the opposite is deceiving the public, in the worst case even deliberately. The law clearly puts the seal of approval on animal welfare-unfriendly husbandry systems with "stable" and "stable+place" and thus permanently legitimizes them on the part of the state. We expect animal welfare to be strengthened and not further weakened in future decisions by the federal government. The FDP in particular must abandon its blockade policy against better regulatory law and more incentive systems.
A recent YouGov survey commissioned by the German Animal Welfare Federation shows that consumers are being misled. According to the survey, around 40 percent of respondents assume that pigs in the "barn" stage of husbandry are regularly provided with replaced straw and bedding. And around a third believe that the labeling not only includes the husbandry, but also transport, slaughter and breeding. It would be nice. The Federal Government still has a lot of work to do to raise awareness.
If the commitments made by Federal Minister Cem Özdemir and the promises made by the coalition government in the coalition agreement are to be of any value, then the work must be done now as a matter of urgency. The Animal Welfare Act must be fundamentally reformed, the gaps in animal welfare legislation must be addressed and the "stall" and "stall+place" stages must be declared obsolete. The Federal Minister, the Federal Government and the German Bundestag must act swiftly and with a clear animal welfare signature, otherwise animal welfare labeling has no value and will end up deceiving consumers."
NOTE ON THE CAMPAIGN "MORE ANIMAL WELFARE NOW!"
With its current campaign "Now more animal welfare!", the German Animal Welfare Federation provides information on which announcements from the coalition agreement the coalition government has already tackled and where there are only empty promises so far: www.jetzt-mehr-tierschutz.de
