*[Enwl-eng] 1,000,000 and counting!
ENWLine
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Big business is making big money from animal suffering in Europe. Together, we have a chance to ban cages in farming today. |
Big business is making big money from animal suffering. In Europe alone, hundreds of millions of animals spend most of their lives, some from birth to death, in a cage. Mother pigs are forced to nurse their piglets in crates. Ducks and geese are caged to be force-fed to produce foie gras (the liver of a fattened duck or goose). Rabbits and quail spend their entire lives in barren cages.
The majority of the 12 million sows (mother pigs) in the EU spend nearly half of every year inside cages. They are even caged for weeks before and after pregnancy, and have to feed their newborn piglets through cage bars. Once they are finally released from their cages, they are re-inseminated and the caged cycle begins all over again. [1]
Thankfully there is something we can do that can tip the scales in favour of animal welfare: over 1,000,000 Europeans have already taken action and signed an official European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) to ban cages in animal farming. [2] But the ECI will go through a strict checking procedure where the government verifies that each signature is from a real person. As a result, nearly 20% of signatures could be declared invalid due to errors!
We need to make sure that this ECI is successful and reaches the required signatures before time runs out. Could you help with your signature?
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Polls show that Europeans do care about the well-being of animals. 94% of people in Europe believe protecting the welfare of farm animals is important and 82% feel that they should be more protected.[3] EU leaders need to hear our voices, and the only official way we can reach them definitively is through the ECI. Together we can ban the cage age in European farming.
If more than 1,000,000 EU citizens’ signatures are confirmed, the EU Commission and MEPs will be obligated to meet us and reply to the initiative in detail. It could even result in the Commission proposing a new EU law – just like what happened after our ECI to ban glyphosate reached 1,000,000 signatures. We’re almost there, but now we need a big push from the WeMove community!
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The way animals are caged in Europe often doesn't allow them to interact with others, to socialise properly – a fundamental need for them, as it is for us humans. Moreover, some have to constantly keep the same artificial postures to fit in their cages! Basic needs like stretching or even looking around are denied.
The WeMove community has been at the forefront of the push for sustainable farming in Europe. There are many things wrong with the way our farming system is currently run, and cages in farming is just one of those things. Together we’ve already taken action to call for an end to industrial meat production that leads to animal suffering, monoculture and the massive use of pesticides in our farming. Now we have a real chance to make cages a thing of the past in European farming. Will you join us?
In solidarity,
Olga (Bologna), Virginia (Madrid), Alex (Marseille), and the entire team at WeMove.EU
PS: Because this campaign is a European Citizens’ Initiative, you’ll have to enter your details in a two-step process. The ECI is like an official EU petition, so it requires more information than we’d normally ask from you to sign a petition. Please fully complete the ECI form in order to have your signature counted and verified by your national government.
References:
[1] Extreme confinement is still a feature of farming systems
for many different species.
https://www.ciwf.org.uk/media/7434596/end-the-cage-age-why-the-eu-must-stop-caging-farm-animals.pdf
[2]
Until 2013, in most of the European Union, sow stalls could be used throughout
pregnancy. Now, the EU Pigs Directive prohibits the use of sow stalls after the
first four weeks following insemination. However, the farrowing crate is allowed
and used routinely for up to 5 weeks per pregnancy in many EU member states.
https://www.ciwf.org.uk/media/7434596/end-the-cage-age-why-the-eu-must-stop-caging-farm-animals.pdf
[3]
http://ec.europa.eu/citizens-initiative/public/initiatives/open/details/2018/000004
WeMove.EU is a citizens’ movement, campaigning for a better Europe; for a European Union committed to social and economic justice, environmental sustainability and citizen-led democracy. We are people from all walks of life, who call Europe our home whether we were born in Europe or elsewhere.
WeMove.EU is funded by donations from our community across Europe. Can you chip in with a few euros a month and help make sure we can move fast to win the campaigns that matter to all of us? Donate
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