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The European Commission has announced it will introduce legislation to ban the use of cages in the animal agriculture system by 2027.
Thanks to the calls of more than 1.4 million people, animals will no longer be confined to ‘cruel’ cages in the 27 member states within Europe.
Animal cages banned
The landmark decision comes after a collection of individuals pressed MEPs to increase welfare standards in collaboration with charity, Compassion in World Farming. This involved over 170 NGOs joining forces to make a stand.
They formed a proposal and took it to the EU Commission, which is the executive governing body responsible for legislation.
The End the Cage Age European Citizens Initiative has spent three years working on a proposal to prohibit the cages.
It applies to chickens, pigs, cows, ducks, geese, among other farmed animals. Additionally, it will apply to all imported animal products too. Moreover, it’s thought to be the biggest push for animal welfare in European history: affecting over 300 million farmed animals.
The organization said: “Farmed animals have never had so many people standing up for them. From caged hens who long to stretch their wings to sows who want to mother their piglets unconfined, and rabbits who deserve the space to hop – each one of them now has a better chance in life, thanks to you.”
European Commission
The commission announced the news on Wednesday, June 30. From the end of this year, it will begin the legislative process.
The Initiative confirmed it will ‘monitor’ this process to make sure the EC ‘sticks to its word’, however.
Moreover, the group said it will press each individual member state to embed the ban into each national law.
‘Cages are a desolate reflection on our society’, it added.
Animal agriculture in Europe
The European Parliament voted in favor of the ban earlier this month. 558 MEPs backed it whilst just 37 voted against, and 85 abstaining.
Whilst it banned battery cages for hens in 2012, the controversial practice of ‘furnishing’ cages were still legal.
Further victories for the EU this year included the landmark rejection of Amendment 171, also known as the dairy ban.
The ban sought to reject descriptive words for plant-based dairy products that were too similar to those used for dairy products: such as ‘vegan cheese’ or ‘yogurt-style’.
