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Anna Dudkova<\/p>\n Anna Dudkova<\/p>\n
The European Parliament has agreed on the bloc\u2019s first set of rules governing animal welfare that will cut out harmful breeding and ownership practices.<\/p>\n
The vote came in with 558 in favor, 35 against, and with 52 abstentions. It has already been green lit by the European Council, and will enter into effect for breeders and organizations that sell or adopt animals after the next 4 years.<\/p>\n
The law<\/a> will ban all breeding practices that result in physical deformation for aesthetic appeal, including for \u201cexaggerated traits.\u201d As for which breeds that might involve, the law did not make any stipulations.<\/p>\n It states that \u201cbreeding strategies motivated by marketing objectives can result in certain types of dogs and cats developing \u2018excessive conformational traits.’\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSince such excessive conformational traits can lead to significant health problems for the dogs and cats concerned, breeders should exclude them from breeding programs.\u201d<\/p>\n Whether that means the pug or the bulldog, or frankly most domesticated purebred cat breeds for that matter, are now illegal to breed, may very well be something for the courts to determine over the next decade.<\/p>\n Additionally as regards breeding, any inbreeding practice either of first order relatives or those once removed, as well as hybridization with non-domestic animals, will be prohibited.<\/p>\n Beyond breeding, substantial text was given in the law to laying out all the documented situations through which cats and dogs enter the European Union market through channels where animal welfare is not the priority, and where future exchanges will be regulated through welfare requirements.<\/p>\n This includes coming from ex-Union countries that have no established animal welfare rules, from unscrupulous breeders posing as private owners simply putting their animals out for adoption, or very scrupulous breeders who take in animals from breeders, shelters, or persons, where animal welfare standards were not observed.<\/p>\n Regarding animal welfare and exactly what that term means, the Union adopted the \u201cfive domains\u201d concept of nutrition, physical environment, health, behavioral interactions, and mental state when determining welfare conditions. The objective is not only the elimination of detrimental conditions, but the guarantee of enriching conditions.<\/p>\n BUSINESS ON THE BLOC: Austria and Italy Finish Digging World\u2019s Longest Rail Tunnel\u2013Ready to Reshape Travel Maps<\/a><\/p>\n The law also prohibits tethering a dog or a cat to an object, except when necessary for medical treatment, and the use of prong and choke collars without built-in safety mechanisms.<\/p>\n It also includes common-sense provisions, such releasing citizens from responsibility for dogs and cats that live \u201csymbiotically\u201d on farms or in other rural areas and which generate value through pest control or other means but which do not live domestically, as well as in cases of scientific research for the purposes of testing veterinary medicine.<\/p>\n