Compassion in World Farming Patron, Deborah Meaden, has this week launched a petition calling on the UK Government to ban the use of all cages for farmed animals. This follows the European Commission’s plans, announced last month, to introduce legislation that would phase out cages by 2027.
Every year across the UK, millions of farmed animals are kept in cages, unable to express their natural behaviours and enduring immense suffering. Most cages are barren, cramped and deny the animals space to move freely.
TV favourite and petition creator, Deborah Meaden, said: “More than half of the UK’s mother pigs give birth confined in prison-like farrowing crates and over a third of the UK’s egg laying hens are kept in cages. That’s around 16 million farm animals in the UK, every year, suffering behind bars. It’s hard to believe that this is still legal.”
“These inhumane systems cannot and must not be the future. Rather than falling behind our European neighbours, we should be leading the way in a move towards more humane farming systems. It’s time for the UK Government to take action and do the right thing. It’s time to End the Cage Age!”
The Commission has also indicated that it will look to ban the import of food from caged systems. This means that inaction from the UK Government won’t just result in the country lagging behind its European neighbours, it may also add bureaucracy to trade with the UK’s nearest and largest export market, and could ultimately damage the entire British farming industry.
Sarah Moyes, Senior Campaign Manager at Compassion World Farming, commented: “We are extremely grateful to Deborah for shining a light on this important petition, which is absolutely crucial to bringing about the legislative change that is needed to end the use of cages across the UK once and for all. Unless the UK Government acts now, animal welfare standards here will fall significantly behind those of the EU.”
The full petition text and live petition can be viewed here.
Our campaign to stop caged farming
Over 170 organisations and caring citizens across Europe joined forces to spearhead the End the Cage Age European Citizens’ Initiative.
Hard work spanning the course of 3 years has culminated in a major victory and historical decision by the European Commission on June 30, 2021 to revise current EU legislation with a commitment to:
- Put forward a legislative proposal by the end of 2023 to phase out and finally prohibit the use of cages for hens, mother pigs, calves, rabbits, ducks, geese and other farmed animals
- Phase out of cages for farmed animals across Europe by 2027
- Ensure that all imported products in the EU comply with future cage-free standards
- To implement systems for incentives and financial support to European farmers during the transition to cage-free farming
This monumental event marks an overwhelming victory for the 1.4 million EU citizens who made their voices heard and took their struggle to the lawmakers of the European Union. Thank you for raising your voice on behalf of animals.
However, the Cage Age campaign is not ending on the 30th of June, it is just evolving. Our mission now is to monitor the legislative process and to make sure that the Commission sticks to its word and delivers on its commitment.
The ground-breaking End the Cage Age European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) launched on 11 September 2018 and closed exactly a year later, having gained over 1.6 million signatures calling for a ban on cruel caged farming in the EU.
Following the required signature validation period, the ECI easily exceeded the required threshold of 1 million signatures, with a total of 1.397.113 validated signatures across Europe submitted on 2 October 2020. It also outstripped the minimum number of signatures threshold in 18 EU member states, out of the seven required.
This makes the End the Cage Age ECI the:
- 6th ECI to succeed among 76 registered initiatives in the last eight years
- 3rd with the highest signature count
- 1st valid ECI for farmed animal welfare
- 1st ECI for animal welfare that has successfully lead to a commitment from the EU Commission to overturn EU legislation and to implement revisions which will take over 300 million animals out of their cruel cages by 2027.
AFTER THE HAND-IN
Following the submission of the End the Cage Age ECI on 2 October 2020, we entered a critical phase of the ECI. Our task was to put pressure on the European Commission and convince the European Parliament to support the phase-out of all cages in farming during critical meeting with EU Commissioners and Hearings in the European Parliament. This was achieved with great success as we received overwhelming support for our cause from Commissioners and MEPs.
Following a period of deliberation, we anxiously waited for a final decision on our ECI.
On June 30, 2021, a ground-breaking event took place! The Commission announced it intends to put forward a legislative proposal by the end of 2023 to phase out and finally prohibit the use of cages for hens, mother pigs, calves, rabbits, ducks, geese and other farmed animals, with ambitions to phase out all cages for farmed animals by 2027.
Farmed animals have never had so many people standing up for them. From caged hens who long to stretch their wings to sows who want to mother their piglets unconfined, and rabbits who deserve the space to hop – each one of them now has a better chance in life, thanks to you.
Now is the time to keep our eyes on the prize and to ensure tangible actions from the European Institutions and Member States. With the EU Commission legislative proposal, it will start the process of the asks of the End the Cage Age campaign becoming law.
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