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World Animal Protection

World Animal Protection is an animal welfare not-for-profit organisation with over 40 years of global experience in programmatic work and campaigns to improve animal welfare and ending animal cruelty.

Lobbying Activity

Response to Modernisation of the EU legislation for on-farm animal welfare for certain animals

16 Jul 2025

World Animal Protection appreciates the opportunity to feed into the Call for Evidence on the modernisation of EU legislation regarding on-farm animal welfare for certain animals. World Animal Protection EU country offices in Sweden, Netherlands and Denmark have separately submitted country-relevant data. This submission will focus on World Animal Protection Reports that are relevant regarding the banning of low welfare imports for poultry, pigs, cattle & rabbits. World Animal Protection encourages the European Commission to propose strict animal welfare restrictions to ensure high welfare standards in the EU, but also across the world. The following studies demonstrate the animal welfare issues that problems that such restrictions could help address both inside the EU and globally. Help restrict Industrial animal agriculture globally & reduce animal suffering: Confined in Cruelty (UK, 2024) shows the footprint of cages in the UK. Farming Pigs, Crate-Free Future (UK, 2021) demonstrates the continued use of farrowing crates in the UK, which cause needless suffering. Australias Cattle Feedlots (2025) reveals barren, shade-less feedlots, causing stress and health issues. Thailands Fostering Humane and Sustainable Food Systems report (2023) demonstrates the widespread cruelty in industrial animal agriculture systems across Southeast Asia. Help address antibiotic overuse & AMR: The Fuelling the Pandemic Crisis report (New Zealand, 2020) and Canadas US Pork and the Superbug Crisis (2019) trace antibiotic misuse in industrial animal agriculture to rising antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Australias Monash-WAP Supermarket Meats (2023), the UKs AMR Technical Report (2023) and Thailands AMR Report (2023) reveal multidrug-resistant bacteria in food chains and weak governance, thus creating global health threats. More environmental and ecosystem health: Climate Change and Cruelty (2023) & Deforestation on your plate (2024) shows that international animal agriculture systems are not only are cruel, but also are polluting and lead to climate change specifically around animal feed leading to deforestation globally. The Health Impacts of Industrial Livestock Systems reports (UK, 2022) demonstrate industrial animal agricultures impacts on air, water and community health. The Global Public Health Technical Report (US, 2022) further connects industrial systems with zoonotic spillover, chronic disease, and systemic pollution. In summary World Animal Protection urges the EU to strengthen animal welfare laws and ban low-welfare imports. These global reports exposing animal welfare abuses, antibiotic overuse, and environmental damage that is inherent in industrial animal agriculture. The banning of low welfare imports could help stem many of these damages. The attached file includes a bibliography for these studies and reports.
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Meeting with Per Clausen (Member of the European Parliament)

26 Mar 2025 · Chicken Welfare Roundtable: Collaboration for Change

Meeting with Niels Fuglsang (Member of the European Parliament)

25 Mar 2025 · Meeting on Animal Welfare

Meeting with Per Clausen (Member of the European Parliament)

25 Mar 2025 · Animal welfare

Response to Review of poultry marketing standards

18 May 2023

We call on the European Commission to delete the minimum liver weights for duck and goose livers used for the production of foie gras. World Animal Protection are calling for this for the following reasons: - Force-feeding cannot co-exist with animal welfare research has shown it causes stress and pain to the duck or goose. - Many countries criminalise force-feeding including the majority of EU member states. Given this, minimum weights are mandating a practice that is illegal across most of the EU and that the vast majority of EU citizens are against. - Minimum weights creates an unfair advantage for producers in certain countries. EU countries that have not introduced animal welfare legislation for the protection of duck and geese are at an unfair disadvantage. - Minimum liver weights do not have any basis in traditional agriculture methods or legislation in the past. - There is inadequate information given to consumers about force-feeding. - By abolishing the minimum weight requirement, the European Commission would open up competition in this product and allow for greater consumer choice among different products, including higher welfare alternatives. - Deletion of the minimum weight requirement is also a proportionate response as it allows for animal welfare approaches to be introduced. - As an international organisation, we see that foie gras production in Europe undermines the EUs reputation worldwide the EU as an animal welfare friendly region. For these, and many other reasons, we ask for the EU to delete minimum liver weights for ducks and geese.
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Response to Ban on the use of certain antimicrobials in animals and products of animal origin imported to the Union

2 Jan 2023

World Animal Protection welcomes the draft delegated regulation supplementing regulation (EU) 2019/6 by implementing the trade restrictions from third countries contained therein. However, given that the regulation 2019/6 was passed 3 years ago and the urgency of the need to combat the AMR crisis globally, we are concerned at the slow progress towards implementation. The restrictions requiring third countries to respect the prohibition on the use of antimicrobial medicinal products for the purpose of promoting growth or to increase yield, and on the use of antimicrobials that have been reserved for the treatment of certain infections in humans, have the potential to create lasting change in terms of tacking antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and saving lives. They could also lead to a massive reduction in antibiotic treatments of animal antibiotics in third countries and could translate into genuine improvement in the lives of millions of animals around the world. World Animal Protection is working in many of these third countries to move them toward higher welfare systems and reduce antibiotic use in ways that will further improve welfare of animals. Taken together this could significantly reduce AMR in animals and people, saving lives and reducing suffering in the process. AMR is an increasing and growing threat to human health in countries like India and Thailand key trading partners of the EU. In this context, World Animal Protection asks the European Commission to take all possible steps to have a strongly enforced delegated regulation implemented at the earliest possible stage. Specifically we ask for the following: - That a strong and robust regime of controls be implemented as per Article 7 that will ensure compliance with the prohibitions set out in the delegated regulation. Such a regime must include sanctions for non-compliance, for example trade restrictions or trade bans for non-compliant countries. This is vital if third countries are to take these new rules seriously. - That there should be a deadline for the implementing acts related to the list of approved countries mentioned in Article 5 and the requirements for the certification in Article 6. We ask that these be finalised within the shortest time possible. - We are very concerned about the long transition period (24 months) foreseen, which is linked to the implementing regulation mentioned in Article 6. As the latter has no deadline, this means there is no certainty for producers or third parties about when this delegated regulation will come into force. Certainty about timelines is vital for countries and producers to prepare for implementation. We therefore ask for this 24 months deadline to be shortened. At a minimum, there needs to be a deadline to be attached to the implementing regulation mentioned in Article 6.
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Response to Animal welfare labelling for food

24 Aug 2021

World Animal Protection welcomes this opportunity to input into the inception impact assessment of the Revision of the EU legislation on animal welfare. We welcome the strong message in the document in favour of more animal welfare protections. We enclose our detailed feedback.
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Response to Revision of Non-Financial Reporting Directive

14 Jul 2021

World Animal Protection welcomes the EU initiative aiming at further embedding sustainability into corporate governance, which would amend the reporting requirements of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD). In that context, we strongly believes that the concept of non-financial reporting currently developed at the EU level should encompass animal welfare. Such an approach would be supported by: ● the inherent links between animal welfare and sustainable development (public health, climate, hunger, poverty, etc.), as acknowledged by the latest EU Farm to Fork Strategy; ● several international standards including OECD sector-specific guidance and the IFC Sustainability Framework; ● best practices adopted by Member States such as France, which already includes animal welfare in the scope of non-financial reporting, and by companies active in the food and garment sectors as part of their mandatory or voluntary sustainable corporate governance. Including animal welfare in the scope of the future Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) would therefore be relevant and consistent with actual trends. On the contrary, choosing to enshrine certain established practices while leaving others out, such as animal welfare, could send a wrong signal and hinder the momentum for progress that has been built up, by encouraging companies to focus their efforts only on the points set out in the law. There are thus strong arguments in favour of a comprehensive CSRD that should include animal welfare. Furthermore, extending such a mechanism to animal welfare would be fully in line with EU goals, as Article 13 of the TFEU expressly recognises that animals are sentient beings and provides that the EU shall be mindful of animal welfare when formulating its policies. Please see attached a Briefing that further explores these issues.
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Response to Climate change mitigation and adaptation taxonomy

14 Dec 2020

We recommend The Delegated Act (DA) not include industrial livestock production as sustainable as it is inherently inefficient in its use of resources and risks food insecurity. The greenhouse gas emissions level is not fully quantified and there are major environmental, animal welfare and public health concerns with the livestock industry. We believe that the proposed criteria on animal husbandry, herd management and feeding perpetuate industrial farming, and do not adequately deal with these concerns and that fundamental changes to approach are needed regarding the transition to a circular economy. Industrial livestock production does not contribute to food security - by feeding cereals and the majority of soya to animals rather than humans directly we are wasting food. Only 3% of the calories in feed are converted into calories in beef, for example. Over seven billion animals are raised annually in Europe, the majority eating grain in industrial conditions. Industrial farming uses vastly more land, water, antibiotics and GHG emissions compared to direct farming and consumption of plants. Currently, global animal farming transgresses 5/9 planetary boundaries: meaning the planet is in the high risk or danger zones in relation to nitrogen and phosphorus pollution, land use, biodiversity, freshwater and climate emissions . The 2019 Agriculture Atlas outlines Europe’s contribution to transgression of these boundaries and the way EU policy and funding have enabled the expansion of corporate owned industrial farming, don’t support agroecology and decrease conservation areas. More specifically, livestock production is classified as a transition activity where it complies with the technical screening criteria. Transition activities are defined as activities for which there is no “technologically and economically feasible low-carbon alternative”. There is a feasible low carbon alternative – plant-based proteins. The UN IPCC report shows the technical mitigation potential of some climate mitigation diets examined in the scientific literature. Reduction in meat and dairy consumption is consistently key to such mitigation . The FAO also notes a 15% reduction of animal products in the diets of high-income countries by 2050 would contribute to containing the need to expand agricultural output due to upward global demographic trends . Furthermore, the existing Delegated Act criteria for animal husbandry, herd management and feeding do not address fundamental system change. Further farming intensification compounds the animal welfare, public health and environmental externalities of industrial farming requiring potentially more antibiotics and perpetuating the risk of disease and pandemics as animals are further selectively bred and fed to grow faster, milk more, breed more and move less while remaining overcrowded, caged and in barren environments. Recent research across the European value chain demonstrates antibiotic use continues to prop up industrial farming and threaten public health with resistant bacteria to critically important antibiotics found in over half the meat samples from chicken producers and supermarkets across 5 countries. The proposed approaches do not fundamentally address the externalities of feed sources and manure waste, equipment, fertilisers or even mention overuse of antibiotics, major disease and pandemic risk. The draft is silent on the risks or status of risks of genetic modification and engineering, which also perpetuate or prop up industrial systems and further risk biodiversity. Given one of the Taxonomy Regulation’s environmental objectives is “the transition to a circular economy”, transition to a circular economy should be included in the Delegated Act, which could be funded at least in part by CAP, as part of eco-schemes initiative. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-09595-220408 https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/sites/4/2019/11/08_Chapter-5.pdf
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Response to Fitness Check of the EU legislation on animal welfare

29 Jul 2020

World Animal Protection is happy to provide input to this process of fitness check of the EU’s Animal Welfare laws. We are an Animal Protection organisation that has offices in fourteen countries, including three EU countries, we see every day the impact of the EU’s inadequate Animal Welfare framework. Article 13 of the TFEU recognises that animals are sentient beings, yet the EU has yet to put in place adequate protections in legislation for almost all animals, and has no effective protections for some. The biggest threat that the EU faces in ensuring animal welfare is industrial farming. The Farm to Fork strategy sets out a path to a sustainable and green agriculture where Europe is recognised as a world leader for its food standards. While industrial farming dominates Europe’s agriculture, this will not be possible. We also are aware that EU citizens are paying more and more attention to animal welfare in the food they eat and in the products they buy. This was mostly recently evidenced by the citizens who supported the “End the Cage Age” European Citizens Initiative. It is time for the EU to ban the use of cages in farming for laying hens, rabbits, pullets, broiler breeders, layer breeders, quail, ducks and geese as well as farrowing crates for sows and sow stalls, where not already prohibited. The Pig Directive 2008/120/EC is among the priorities for revision in the light of new scientific knowledge and practical experience. The first issue that needs to be tackled is the issue of non-compliance in most Member States with some of the rules, most egregiously on the docking of tails which causes suffering, pain and distress to the animal. We encourage the European Commission to intensify its work on enforcement. Linked with this is two specific changes we request to the legislation that will lessen the need for tail-docking. These would be: - an increase of space allowances to help pigs lie in lateral recumbency and rest which will mean less need for tail docking. - A revision to the rules on enrichment, which are often highly insufficient: Chains, ropes and rubber, so called plastic toys, small amounts of chopped straw etc. are inappropriate materials and should be explicitly rules out by legislation. Other changes that we would like to see include: - Group housing during gestation should be described with more explicit minimum requirements. - Confinement during the first 4 weeks of gestation should be phased out. Requirements for adequate housing and management during this period should be explicitly stated. - Farrowing crates should be phased out because they cause suffering. Piglet mortality is not higher when sows are housed loose in pens. - Breeding for ever larger litters should be banned – it has led to extreme litter sizes and high piglet mortality. Piglets are smaller and weaker, making them more susceptible to disease and hence need antibiotics. - Nesting material of an adequate type and amount shall be ensured prior to farrowing. - Early weaning of piglets should be banned as this is highly connected to the frequent use of antibiotics. Subsidies The EU’s Common Agriculture Policy cross-compliance includes animal welfare criteria. It is important that the criteria set in this framework are strictly enforced in order to ensure coherent animal welfare standards across the EU. There should never be a situation tolerated where subsidies are being paid out to recipients who are not respecting the EU’s animal welfare laws. Antibiotics The implementation of the Veterinary Medicines Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2019/6) from 2022 will herald a big change, with prophylactic use of antibiotics and group treatments being outlawed. This is an opportunity for the EU to put in place a more coherent and stricter set of animal welfare rules that reflect this change. Trade The European Commission should use trade policy to obtain commitments from trading partners on animal welfare and use of antibiotics.
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Response to Climate change mitigation and adaptation taxonomy

27 Apr 2020

World Animal Protection is present across three EU member states and fourteen locations globally. Our mission is to move the world to protect animals, and we work closely with stakeholders such as Governments, International Institutions, business & other NGOs. Our work is to protect animals in communities, animals in farming, animals in disasters & animals in the wild. World Animal Protection believes that the livestock sector should be removed from the sectors that give substantial contribution to climate change adaptation. The Livestock sector, according to the FAO, accounts for 14.5% of total Greenhouse gas emissions. It is a sector that is growing and intensifying - predictions are that on current trends the sector could account for 70% of emissions by 2050. As well as leading to high levels of soil, water and air pollution, it also leads to many health problems in humans and welfare challenges for farmed animals. As Commissioner Wojciechowski stated recently (1), it will be necessary to address the problem of intensive pig farming in some EU countries to increase sustainability . We see nothing in the criteria proposed by the Technical Expert Group that would ensure any change in the intensive agriculture model. There are no criteria allowing safe separation from investment in certain sustainable forms of grazing and the vast majority of ongoing investments in livestock which are environmentally harmful. Intensive agriculture systems, such as the ones that attract investment, are also linked to biodiversity loss associated with increased logging globally and land clearing for plantations. According to the IBES (2) approximately 25% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions came from land clearing, crop production and fertilisation – with animal based food producing around 75% of that. They went on to say that “intensive agriculture has increased food production at the cost of regulating and non-material contribution from nature”. Intensive systems are also sharply in contrast with the vision of the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2030 – Goal 2.3 aims to double the food production capacity of smallholders. According to the IBES, they “also maintain a rich agrobiodiversity”. Animal welfare as part of the solution to global sustainability challenges in food systems - food systems sustainability can be enabled through animal welfare. For example • Improved welfare of food animals leads to more meat, milk and eggs, and also to improved product quality, so decreasing food loss and waste. • In the case of working animals it contributes to increasing agricultural production. • Biodiversity (e.g., pollinating insect populations) may promote better grazing opportunities with a wider range of plants for animals on pasture, leading to better nutrient recycling and hence improved meat and milk production. Recommendations: 1. We call for the non-inclusion of Livestock at this stage given the risk that investment in intensive systems could further exacerbate Greenhouse Gas emissions. 2. We believe that inclusion of the livestock sector should wait for a full set of biodiversity criteria to be developed, in line with the EU’s forthcoming Farm to Fork Strategy and Biodiversity Strategy. 3. We want to see revised criteria that would favour the development of more sustainable smallholding agriculture, which has the potential to ensure greater biodiversity. 4. In the future we want to see animal welfare and health status criteria as part of the environmental goals of the Taxonomy. References: (1) https://www.euractiv.com/section/agriculture-food/news/eu-agriculture-chief-under-pressure-over-bid-to-trim-intensive-pig-farming/ (2) Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IBES) report https://ipbes.net/sites/default/files/2020-02/ipbes_global_assessment_report_summary_for_policymakers_en.pdf Our most recent Annual Report: https://www.worldanimalprotection.org/sites/default/
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Response to Farm to Fork Strategy

19 Mar 2020

World Animal Protection is present across four EU member states and 14 locations globally. Our mission is to move the world to protect animals, and we work closely with stakeholders such as Governments, International Institutions, business & other NGOs. Our work is to protect animals in communities, animals in farming, animals in disasters & animals in the wild. You can read more about our work in our most recent Annual Report: https://www.worldanimalprotection.org/sites/default/files/media/int_files/annual_report_2018.pdf World Animal Protection believes that intensive livestock farming is one of the key problems for Europe’s food system and agriculture. As well as leading to high levels of soil, water and air pollution, it also leads to many health problems in humans and welfare challenges for farmed animals. As Commissioner Wojciechowski stated recently, it will be necessary to address the problem of intensive pig farming in some EU countries, because agriculture has to be sustainable. Animal welfare as part of the solution to global sustainability challenges in food systems Our view is that food systems sustainability can be enabled through animal welfare. Here are some examples of how this can be done: • Improved welfare of food animals leads to more meat, milk and eggs, and also to improved product quality, so decreasing food loss and waste. • In the case of working animals it contributes to increasing agricultural production. • Biodiversity (e.g., pollinating insect populations) may promote better grazing opportunities with a wider range of plants for animals on pasture, leading to better nutrient recycling and hence improved meat and milk production. • The responsible and restrictive use of antimicrobials requires good animal welfare, but also minimises development of antimicrobial resistance. Case Studies: Farming systems that combine circular economy models with higher animal welfare practices are already a reality in the EU. For example, the Kipster concept in the Netherlands produces carbon-neutral and higher welfare eggs. Regarding pig welfare – changes in farming practices make pigs in the production chain, from piglets to finishing pigs, more robust. The animals behave more naturally; they have better immunity and growth, suffer less stress, disease and need fewer antibiotics. The meat quality is also better, which is also beneficial for producers, customers and businesses. We attach our report where producers share, in their own words, examples and stories of improving animal welfare. The new EU Farm-to-Fork strategy also gives the EU the possibility to promote sustainable food production at global level via trade policy. Therefore, trade policy should be designed to support the EU’s sustainability objectives. Indeed, trade agreements are instrumental to build up a greener and more humane world. In that context, the use by the EU of its trade policy as a leverage to drive convergence towards higher sustainability standards, among which on animal welfare, should not be only understood as the use of soft tools such as cooperation mechanisms, but also of harder tools, such as conditional liberalisation based on criteria linked to animal welfare or to other aspects of sustainability. Recommendations ➔ Given the link between antimicrobial use and animal welfare promote higher welfare farming systems by accelerating the process of phasing out cages. We welcome the banning the prophylactic use of antibiotics in farming from 2022 and we encourage the European Commission to implement this ban strictly. ➔ Ensure the implementation of existing laws and rules, such as the Pigs Directive 2008/120/EC especially the banning of routine tail docking. ➔In trade agreements, only grant further trade preferences for animal-based products upon the condition that they respect all EU relevant animal welfare standards. ➔ Promote healthier diets by reducing animal source food consumption by 50% by 2050.
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Response to EU 2030 Biodiversity Strategy

20 Jan 2020

World Animal Protection comments on European Commission’s Roadmap on the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2030 World Animal Protection appreciates the opportunity to comment on the European Commission’s Roadmap for the EU Biodiversity to 2030. With the acknowledged decline in biodiversity across the globe, including the EU, we are losing species and habitat at an alarming rate. Now is the time to act and the Commission must and can be a leader in taking urgent action to deliver a new strategy and take forward-thinking action to arrest the loss of biodiversity. In the enclosed, we give our comments on some of the points that were raised in the Roadmap and provide input on issues that we believe should be addressed in the future Biodiversity Strategy, especially on Trade, Improving the protection of wildlife and looking at the Wildlife Trade itself.
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Response to Evaluation of the EU Animal Welfare Strategy (2012-2015)

14 Jun 2019

World Animal Protection input: Evaluation of EU animal welfare strategy (2012-15). Introduction World Animal Protection thanks the European Commission for the opportunity to input into the process of the evaluation of the EU animal welfare strategy (2012-15). World Animal Protection is present across four EU member states and 14 locations globally. Our mission is to move the world to protect animals, and we work closely with stakeholders such as Governments, International Institutions, business & other NGOs. Our work is to protect animals in communities, animals in farming, animals in disasters & animals in the wild. You can read more about our work in our most recent Annual Report: https://www.worldanimalprotection.org/sites/default/files/int_files/annual_report_2017.pdf Observations World Animal Protection would like to make the following observations: - The lack of enforcement of EU legislation by Member States is still the most pressing issue for animal welfare legislation. With more than 80% of pigs bring raised outside EU standards, the main goal of the Council Directive 2008/120/EC laying down minimum standards for the protection of pigs(the ‘Pigs Directive’) remains unachieved . This continues to cause economic barriers within the EU, including the lack of a level playing field. Voluntary approaches, such as the Brussels Declaration on pig castration have failed. - The support of international cooperation on animal welfare is becoming more important - the EU’s standards are influential in setting goals globally. The EU’s International Trade Agreements increasingly integrate animal welfare standards, for example. However, these are only influential if they are implemented and the recent case of Ukrainian chicken imports shows that a lack of animal welfare standards can significantly impact the competitiveness of European producers. Similarly, the African Swine Fever epidemic demonstrates that animal health and animal welfare cannot be seen in an EU-only context. - The Common Agricultural Policy continues to have a strong influence on animal welfare policy in the EU. However cross-compliance is not an adequate or effective tool, as it does not even ensure the implementation of current EU legislation and rules. This point has been made by the European Court of Auditors Special Audit Report (No 31/2018). - Consumers still do not have appropriate information on animal welfare when they make choices as to the food they eat. Recommendations - There should be a new Animal Welfare strategy in the new European Commission agenda with an ambitious scope. Its focus should be on rapid and progressive action to implement existing legislation on animal welfare in a uniform way across the European Union. - Specific action should be taken to ensure the implementation of the Pigs Directive: to ensure tail docking is finally stopped, there is adequate provision of enrichment and that legal standards in sow group housing are respected. Given that the voluntary industry-led approach has failed & 50% of castrated piglets continue to be castrated without pain relief (see attached study), the EU should ensure that the issue of castration of pigs is addressed, moving from pain relief to immunocastration & other non-surgical solutions. - The international focus of the EU’s next Animal Welfare strategy should be boosted with a goal of international cooperation with our biggest markets to ensure cooperation on animal welfare standards. All new international trade agreements or Partnership and Cooperation Agreements must include animal welfare and these should include commitments with deadlines to bring standards to the higher animal welfare level. - The CAP should include higher animal welfare standards for all payments. These should, at a minimum, include the implementation of all EU legislation on animal welfare. - Animal welfare information should be mandatory in all foods that contain animal products.
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