Intensive livestock farming - Green parliamentary groups want better animal welfare controls
Violations against animal welfare rights remain too often without consequences, according to the Greens' belief. Particularly in intensive animal farming, such as pig and poultry farming, stricter controls are required. For this reason, Green factions from several federal states, including Brandenburg and Bavaria, along with the federal parliamentary faction, have presented a new model ordinance for animal welfare control.
Animal welfare controls reveal regular violations
"Most authorities want more animal welfare, but they don't have the tools for it," said the Brandenburg Green fraction leader Benjamin Raschke. This gap should be closed by the model ordinance and simplify controls with uniform and as clear as possible provisions. Violations such as injured testicles in broiler chickens, bleeding ears on pig fattening pigs, or inflamed teats in sows should be able to be prevented better.
Background of the Green initiative
According to the results of several parliamentary inquiries in the past year, the criticized quotas for animal welfare control in Brandenburg in the years 2021 and 2022 were over one third (35%). A similar picture emerges in other federal states.
The Greens demand stricter standards for controls
Additionally, the Greens criticize that, in practice, controls are carried out according to the TierSchutz-NutztierHalteV (Animal Welfare in Farming) Ordinance and not according to the stricter standards of the German Animal Welfare Act.
The model ordinance proposed by the Greens should offer an uniform system for recording disturbances in broiler chickens, pig fattening pigs, and sows to official veterinarians of the responsible authorities and the industry and provide provisions for consequences.
The Green parliamentary group in Brandenburg and Bavaria, alongside the federal faction, advocate for this model ordinance in Parliament, aiming to improve animal welfare in regions like Munich and Potsdam, specifically in pig and poultry farming. This new regulation aims to simplify controls by providing clear and uniform provisions, potentially reducing issues such as injured testicles in broiler chickens or bleeding ears on pig fattening pigs.
The initiative stems from the revelation of regular violations against animal welfare rights in several federal states, including Brandenburg and Bavaria, where the allocated quotas for animal welfare controls were reportedly overused by 35%.
In the context of this model ordinance, the Greens also advocate for enforcing controls according to the stricter standards of Germany's Animal Welfare Act, instead of the TierSchutz-NutztierHalteV Ordinance.
Furthermore, the proposed model ordinance aims to establish a unified system for recording disturbances in broiler chickens, pig fattening pigs, and sows in both official veterinarian records and the industry, with provisions outlining appropriate consequences for any violations.
