New research shows that imported animal cruelty is being sold in Austrian supermarkets. This must be a wake-up call for EU-wide minimum standards, demands Wiener.
Vienna (OTS) – Current research by Oekoreich has revealed that animal cruelty is being sold in local supermarkets: Toe trimming involves melting the toes off of newly hatched turkey poults so that they cannot injure each other due to stress and lack of space.
This painful procedure is forbidden in Austria – but the meat from the tortured chicks still ends up in our refrigerated shelves via imports from neighboring countries.
Sarah Wiener, Green MEP and member of the Agriculture Committee comments: “This research needs to be a wake-up call. Although there are higher standards for keeping turkeys in Austria, there are no rules across the EU. This means that neither trimming toes nor amputating beaks is banned throughout the EU and the stocking density is far too high. While in Austria a maximum of 40kg of turkeys per square meter can be kept in conventional farming, in other parts of the EU it is up to 70kg. As a result, the animals cannot pursue their natural needs, nor can they scratch or look for food, and they injure each other.
That must change: animal cruelty must be banned across the EU and stocking densities must decrease. No one who eats asked for or approved of this bestial torture. We have strayed from the right path, it is urgently time to correct that.”
More about researching Ökoreich: LINK
Questions & Contact:
Ludmilla Reisinger/press spokeswoman Sarah Wiener, MEP
ludmilla.reisinger@la.europarl.europa.eu
+43 660 3213732
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