Today the Cabinet is adopting a draft bill to amend the Animal Welfare Act, which would make video surveillance mandatory at larger abattoirs. Thomas Schröder, President of the German Animal Welfare Federation, comments:
“If the government is opening up the law, it must also seize the opportunity for a comprehensive overhaul. Instead, it is in the process of squandering a historic opportunity – and merely making the smallest possible adjustment.
The introduction of video surveillance in slaughterhouses is certainly to be welcomed. However, it is not clear why the regulation should only apply to facilities above an arbitrarily set size. A large proportion of establishments will thus remain exempt from the change. Death awaits in all slaughterhouses; in all slaughterhouses, the process must be monitored and additional suffering must be prevented at all costs – regardless of size!
Furthermore, further revisions are long overdue. For instance, there is a need for a ban on tethering cattle, an end to live animal transports to third countries, and a clear objective for phasing out animal testing. But also a clarification of the ban on cruel breeding practices, as well as the introduction of a positive list for greater protection of domestic and wild animals. The nationwide compulsory neutering of outdoor cats that we are calling for, which would reduce the suffering of stray cats, is also supported by the SPD in its party manifesto.
The last attempt to amend the Animal Welfare Act failed due to the collapse of the traffic-light coalition. Now the parliamentary groups in the Bundestag can still make changes to the draft. This historic opportunity must be seized!”
