“No more cages on farms on community land”. This should have been one of the objectives of the European Commission in the review of the animal welfare dossier, requested by the ICE End the Cage Age and signed by 1.4 million people.
Yet, there is no trace of the legislative proposal with a respective ban that the EU Commission had supported. The Citizens’ Committee, promoter of the initiative, has not forgotten this End the Cage Agewhich took legal action by appealing to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
And European citizens, who had placed their trust in the EU Commission and in the commitment made for the gradual elimination of cages in the livestock sector, have not forgotten it either.
On the occasion of World Cage-Free Day on 14 October, representatives of multiple animal rights associations took to the streets and reached the European Parliament building in Place du Luxembourg, Brussels, organizing a protest action.
Plush pigs, calves and chickens were symbolically freed from their cages as a reminder to the European ruling class to abolish this cruel practice. Now it’s the turn of the 300 million animals raised in cages or pens individuals that are bred in Europe every year.
“Open the cages, free the animals” is the appeal of animal rights activists and of those who, even if they do not profess to be animal rights activists, consider cages an obsolete system. This is what emerges from the 2023 Eurobarometer survey, according to which 84% of European citizens believe that farmed animals should have greater protection as well as sufficient and comfortable space for their natural needs.
Cages do not meet these requirements and this is why farms must become cage-free. In conjunction with the action in Brussels, thousands of Italians sent emails to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, urging her to keep her promise.
EFSA, the European Food Safety Authority, has also issued scientific opinions recommending not to keep laying hens, breeding sows, quails and ducks in cages to improve their welfare.
What are we waiting for? We need concrete proposals, not just words, there is no more time. No more cages on farms.
