“Farm animals” excluded from cruel breeding regulations, no agreement on the issue of fully slatted floors
Vienna (OTS) – The tug of war over the pet novella came to an end almost at the last second. The package was introduced in Parliament yesterday – without mixing it with the fully slatted floor issue, but still with severe losses for animal welfare. After long efforts on the part of animal protection organizations, there are smaller successes: An independent, scientific commission to prevent cruel breeding is finally to be set up. In addition, mandatory certificates of expertise for keeping dogs and wild animals will be introduced nationwide in the future. Also the long-requested ban on appearances for all camels (including alpacas and llamas) and water buffaloes circuses Valid from July 2026. The ASSOCIATION AGAINST TIERFABRIKEN, TIERSCHUTZ AUSTRIA, FOUR PAWS and the Vienna Animal Protection Ombudsman still agree: the pet amendment is characterized by strong headwinds from the ÖVP and breeding associations. Some of the changes introduced, such as the certificates of expertise for dogs and wild animals, will only take effect once the relevant regulations are in place.
Eva Persy from the Vienna Animal Protection Ombudsman complains: “Unfortunately, important points from the statements were not addressed. Both animal protection organizations and authorities have pointed out that when it comes to standardizing the licensing requirement for a breeding facility, it is not only the number of litters that is important, but also the number of breeding animals.
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“What is fatal is that, in return for an enforceable torture breeding regime, the most tortured of all animals – the “farm animals” – had to move away from exactly this. The explicit exclusion of agriculturally used animals from certain paragraphs on the cruel breeding regulations results in a deterioration in the status quo. Here the Animal Protection Act does not protect the animals, but only the interests of the animal exploiting industry
“, adds VGT campaigner Denise Kubala.
Eva Rosenberg, country director for FOUR PAWS Austria, is also critical: “Although we welcome the desired improvements for pets, we have to say very clearly that the originally strong motion for a resolution has been enormously watered down or, in some cases, not implemented at all. The unspeakable blockade on the part of the ÖVP has prevented comprehensive progress and is becoming alarmingly clear, among other things, in the area of cruel breeding for pets: The ban on importing animals affected by cruel breeding should be limited to only “externally recognizable” characteristics. This is also a deterioration in the current legal situation and is worrying, as there are a variety of serious breeding characteristics that cannot be seen from the outside – such as heart defects or epilepsy!
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“As a result of this legislative period, the draft is very poor – in fact, all animals that cannot live even close to the life befitting their species are tortured. The draft in the narrower sense lacks a regulation for imports to treat and rescue torture breeding. Not allowing animals into the country, to animal protection organizations, for example to carry out an operation, is ultimately punishing an animal for human profiteering
“, adds Madeleine Petrovic from Tierschutz Austria.
It is also disappointing that there is still no agreement on the subject of fully slatted flooring for pigs. The Constitutional Court repealed the 2022 compromise regulation on June 1, 2025. A reformulation of the law would now have been necessary in order to create legal certainty for companies, to meet the requirements of the Constitutional Court for shorter transition periods and to set straw for the animals as a minimum standard, as desired by 92% of the population.
VGT chairman Martin Balluch: “The welfare of animals was sacrificed to the ÖVP’s blockade policy, which, in the name of its animal factory clientele, ignores large majorities in the population and the constitutional provision of the state goal of animal protection. Now the fully slatted floor is being made a central issue by the animal protection organizations in the National Council elections Need to become.”
Questions & Contact:
VGT – ASSOCIATION AGAINST ANIMAL FACTORIES
Denise Kubala
01 929 14 98
media@vgt.at
https://vgt.at