Animal welfare has never been so topical. With MEPs currently working their way through a complex and far-reaching review of the EU’s veterinary medicines and medicated feed legislation, the health and welfare of animals, both domestic and commercial, has hit the Brussels policymaking ‘bubble’ like never before.
The EU institutions are close to giving themselves a well-deserved pat on the back for the work they have done to simplify the use and availability of veterinary medicines across Europe. However, there is one key animal welfare issue that so far has not yet been tackled by EU policymakers; the protection of cats and dogs in the context of commercial practices.
Step up to the plate then, the EU Dog & Cat Alliance. Launched only last year, the Alliance, in its own words, aims to, “build a better Europe”, for the estimated 61 million pet dogs and 66 million pet cats across the EU. Despite the EU’s lack of any firm competence in issues linked to commercial practices involving dogs and cats, the Alliance has already begun campaigning on a broad range of issues. These include commercial breeding and selling, cross border movement and the introduction of a ‘single market’ for veterinary medicines.
Report on commercial practices
To highlight these issues to EU policymakers and to present the findings of a new EU-wide study assessing the national legislation for dogs and cats involved in commercial practices, the EU Dog & Cat Alliance, in partnership with the Parliament Magazine, held their first event in the European Parliament late last month.
Hosted by Italian deputy Nicola Caputo, the event saw dozens of MEPs from across the Parliament’s political groupings pledge their support for the Alliance’s call for harmonised EU-wide legislation for the protection of dogs and cats involved in commercial practices.
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The Alliance’s study was based on commercial activity information on identification and registration, breeding, trade and surgical mutilations from across all 28 EU member states. The results confirmed the alliance’s concerns that the wide variation at national level, with strict legislation in some countries but little at all in others, is creating a situation with potentially serious consequences.
“This new study by the EU Dog & Cat Alliance is the first of its kind and essentially concludes that legislation at the national level within the EU differs widely,” said Caputo in his opening comments. He added that, “in some countries there are substantial legislative gaps, raising concerns that without EU polices to harmonise legislation across member states, there could be serious implications, not only for dog and cat welfare but also for animal and human health, consumer protection and even the functioning of the EU’s internal market.”
Dangers of illegal importation
British ECR deputy Ashley Fox thanked the Alliance for, “highlighting this very important issue”, and warned of the dangers surrounding the illegal importation of young cats and dogs. “Puppies and kittens bred in poor conditions have a higher risk of developing health or behavioural problems. This means higher vets’ bills for unsuspecting owners.” Fox added that these “unsuspecting owners” may be completely unaware of their pet’s true history. “The sale of these pets across borders also poses a risk to animal and human health, where sufficient measures aren’t taken to prevent diseases being transferred between countries.”
Fox, a British conservative held back from directly supporting the alliance’s call to harmonise legislation at EU level. He said, however, “It is clear that better enforcement of legislation is an issue we need to address, and quickly.”
These sentiments were echoed by his ECR group colleague, Julie Girling, a strong supporter of animal welfare issues. “Over the last five years, we’ve been talking about a European competence on pets. There’s no clear answer as there isn’t really any European competence on pet welfare, which is a real issue.”
Legislative tightrope?
Girling said she felt “a bit conflicted” because she was unsure that moving towards harmonised EU rules would necessarily be the best option. “I’m by no means an uncritical supporter of this, however I absolutely support animal welfare. I’m a real dog person. So it’s a tightrope of what can you do in Europe and I think that what we can do is we can really put a lot of pressure on member state governments. Whether we are best placed doing it by pressure rather than legislation, well I tend to err on towards the former. But you know, I’m a British Conservative, I don’t believe in over regulation so I would say that wouldn’t I?”
However Girling praised the Alliance’s initiative in putting the issue in front of EU policymakers. “Getting together at a European level is the right thing to do, but, don’t make legislation that you can’t enforce, don’t make regulations that people can break with impunity, let’s be sure that we are doing the right thing first.”
EU Dog & Cat Alliance
The EU Dog & Cat Alliance’s Adrian Burder welcomed the strong MEP interest in the event and in the Alliance’s “ground-breaking report” which he said was “providing vital evidence for the need for EU legislation”. Burder added that both the event in Parliament and the new study was, “a momentous occasion for us, as historically there’s been very little action to protect dog and cat welfare at EU level. We launched the EU Dog & Cat Alliance in 2014 because we firmly believed that now is the time for the EU to take action. I think the number of people in the room tonight confirms how much support there is for EU action in this area.”
Burder also told the Parliament Magazine that members of the Alliance had had a fruitful day meeting up with MEPs and would continue to work with parliamentarians to press home their message to the European Commission and member states on the need to act on dog and cat welfare. "What we are particularly worried about is that there is so much variance in legislation throughout Europe. It’s essentially an unfair market, if you like. Things like breeding standards, identification and registration are completely different throughout Europe.”
“Our study, a three month review, illustrated this enormous variation in legislation across Europe and we think that this should be harmonised. In some countries legislation is pretty good, in some it’s awful and you have the situation where puppies could be bred in awful conditions in one country and then transported to another country at great profit. This just seems totally crazy.”
Raising standards
“We’d like to raise standards and make sure that animal welfare is taken into consideration, because we know that some dogs have been bred in terrible circumstances, transported thousands of miles in awful conditions. They are arriving in a terrible state, sometimes with genetic diseases, and often dying not long after arriving.” After introducing the audience to a short video presentation on the report’s findings, which included excerpts from Alliance member organisations from across the EU, Burder said, “One year on from the launch of the alliance I am delighted to say that we now have 53 dog and cat welfare organisations from 19 member states represented.”
Although firmly focused on pulling in support from MEPs, those attending also heard from Andrea Gavinelli, the European Commission’s animal welfare man within DG health and food safety, who outlined the current EU legislative situation. Nathalie Welschbillig, an attaché to the permanent representation of Luxembourg to the EU provided an overview of animal welfare issues currently being managed by the Grand Duchy as part of its EU Council presidency stint.
Team dog or Team cat?
One of the highlights of the night, and a popular attraction for both animal welfare stakeholders and MEPs alike was the ‘Team’ photo stand. Those attending were asked to choose whether to have their photograph taken with a Team dog or Team cat paddle. And although this journalist thought that over the evening the pooches had the better support from EU policymakers, we’ve been assured that both cats and dogs are just as important in the eyes of MEPs.
In closing, Nicola Caputo told this magazine that he hoped that the EU Dog & Cat Alliance event would help motivate MEPs to look into the issue of closer harmonisation. “It’s great to hear about the work the alliance has done to understand what’s happening across Europe. The new study is great job, a great start.”