OneKind
OneKind effects positive change for animals through high-profile campaigns, political lobbying, in-vestigations, public education, and promoting compassionate living.
ID: 566954938193-65
Lobbying Activity
Response to Fitness Check of the EU legislation on animal welfare
29 Jul 2020
OneKind is an animal welfare charity based in Scotland working to protect and advocate for all animals. While we acknowledge that Scotland, as part of the UK, will no longer have direct influence on EU policies and legislation, we still hope for a good level of convergence. Our concerns for animals across the EU are unchanged and we will continue to advocate for their welfare, working with partner organisations in Europe.
While we understand the rationale, OneKind regrets that the fitness check has been limited to legislation relating to farmed animals. This removes the possibility of a holistic approach which recognises that all animals are sentient and deserving of equal protection. It is important that the scope of the fitness check is kept as wide as possible, within the limitations of its remit. As such, all legislation applying to farmed animals, and also the applicability of that legislation to animals other than those conventionally farmed, must be considered.
In formulating and implementing policies, full regard must be paid to the welfare requirements of animals, in acknowledgement of their sentience, as is laid down in the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union. The many instances of poor welfare currently evident in the EU with recognised and avoidable causes suggest the need for strengthened resolve on this point.
Further to this, it is our moral imperative to ensure that the animals we exploit for food and profit are given the opportunity to flourish, not simply endure. Outcome-based indicators that give evidence of the animals’ lived experience should be used to evaluate welfare, and strategies must be based on the most recent scientific understanding of species-specific needs, to offer animals a good life.
Crucially, it must be acknowledged that many animals are not sufficiently protected by existing legislation. The vague wording of the General Farming Directive has left doubt as to whether it covers less conventional industries, for example puppy farming. These animals are being intensively bred for commercial reasons and there are serious welfare concerns attached, so action must be taken to better protect them.
Even within conventional farming, the lack of species-specific legislation for all but four ‘categories’ of animals leaves the protection of all others under the protection of the General Farming Directive. It is not fit for this purpose, as the poor welfare inherent in the dairy and aquaculture sectors attest.
The Broiler, Laying hen, Pig and Calves Directives, due to lack of compliance and insufficiently high standards, are failing to ensure good welfare even in these cases where species-specific legislation exists.
There are well documented problems of implementation and enforcement in the Transport Regulation, and gaps in both this and the Slaughter Regulation, which leave millions of animals without sufficient protection.
In the attached document we will give evidence of the key problems of scope, implementation, enforcement, and gaps in legislation that concern us, and that we recommend should be addressed by the fitness check.
Read full response