Press conference to secure mountain forests: When the wolf comes, the forest grows – the illegal regulations to exterminate wolves harm us all
Vienna (OTS) – Time is running out, the window for a parliamentary decision to end pig farming on fully slatted floors is closing. That’s why animal rights activists across Austria are taking every opportunity to confront Agriculture Minister Totschnig with the demand of 92% (1) of people in Austria: Pigs need straw instead of a fully slatted concrete floor without bedding. Today VGT activists from Carinthia and East Tyrol protested at a press conference by the minister in Obertilliach in East Tyrol. The megaphone was used to inform those present about the suffering of animals in Austria’s pig factories. According to Statistics Austria, only 3% of the pigs in East Tyrol have to live on fully slatted floors.(2) But on the one hand, people in East Tyrol also eat fully slatted floor pork and, on the other hand, the politically responsible people here, especially Minister Totschnig, have a say in the nationwide farming conditions. Austria needs a real ban on fully slatted floors and an exit scenario that has a manageable time frame.
VGT chairman DDr. Martin Balluch also points out the content of the press conference: “The end of fully slatted floors in pig farming is undoubtedly the most important and urgent demand for animal protection in Austria at the moment. But this press conference was about securing the mountain forests. Like some studies, most recently this one by Eike Schumann at the Eberswalde Forestry School from August 2022 (3), prove that the forest grows when the wolf comes. Schumann’s literal conclusion: There was a very strong reduction in browsing damage in the study area [und] a significant increase in the number of plants on the crops through enrichment with natural regeneration. If East Tyrol wants to protect its mountain forests, Tyrol and Carinthia should withdraw their illegal wolf extermination regulations. That should have been the topic of this press conference.”
Press photos (Copyright: VGT.at), sources see vgt.at
Questions & Contact:
VGT – ASSOCIATION AGAINST ANIMAL FACTORIES
DDr. Martin Balluch
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