SPÖ motion in the Carinthian state parliament shows that reason is slowly gaining the upper hand: no one can expect pigs to continue living without straw
Vienna (OTS) – Now the pig industry lobbyists are coming out of their corners everywhere. The President of the Lower Austrian Chamber of Agriculture, Johannes Schmuckenschlager, also joined in with a broadcast today. He fears cheap imports from abroad with lower husbandry standards than in Austria. “Which countries are you referring to?” asks VGT chairman DDr. Martin Balluch. “In Austria we have the absolutely worst husbandry standards for fattening pigs in the entire country EU. It couldn’t be worse. And you are demanding, Mr. Schmuckenschlager, that this lousy standard not be improved so that there are no imports? This can only be a joke.
The pigs can’t wait any longer. With the findings of the Constitutional Court behind us, a real ban on fully slatted floors must now be decided quickly!
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And Balluch continues: “The pig industry’s confusing tactics must now finally come to an end. This Fully slatted floor NEW, which the law had previously provided as a temporary interim solution for new buildings and conversions until a further resolution in 2028 for the real new minimum standard, was also repealed by the Constitutional Court. That would not be a ban on fully slatted floors, but rather a completely evil continuation of it. It must therefore be made legally clear here and now that fully slatted floors are actually banned. And that cannot be an improved fully slatted floor without straw bedding, but there must be a soft lying area with bedding, which, according to the current legal situation, all pigs are already entitled to.”
The SPÖ Carinthia understood this. She has now submitted a proposal to the Carinthian state parliament that the fully slatted floor must be fundamentally banned, both the previous conventional version and any improved new version. And not just for pigs, but also for cattle. “A real ban on fully slatted floors can only be accompanied by mandatory straw bedding; anything else is eyewash and a propaganda ploy by the animal industry
“, says Balluch. “The weak previous wording in the Animal Protection Act, which was a compromise, must be reconsidered in light of the VfGH findings. Planning security means that the new minimum standard will now be set with straw, without temporary interim solutions and without postponement to 2028 or even later!
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Questions & Contact:
VGT – ASSOCIATION AGAINST ANIMAL FACTORIES
DDr. Martin Balluch
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