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Even chickens get a better life under new animal laws
On Tue, 13 Jul 2004 16:02:28 +0100, Nick Maclaren wrote:
Even chickens get a better life under new animal laws By Kate Connolly in Berlin (Filed: 28/05/2004) Chickens can no longer be kept in cages Not of any size? and dogs cannot be restrained by choke collars under animal protection laws passed by the Austrian parliament yesterday. The legislation, the strictest in the world, has been under discussion for more than two decades. It also stipulates that it is illegal to place animals in the care of minors, to display pets in shop windows Why? or to use wild animals in circus acts or other spectacles. Chickens in Austria can no longer be kept in cages Cattle may not be tethered with rope, Why? and it is no longer allowed to use electric shocks to train animals, or to dock their tails or ears. Some politicians wept as the law was passed by a comfortable majority following a five-hour debate, while others waved soft toys in celebration. Animal rights groups welcomed the changes, but the country's farmers reacted angrily, arguing that forcing them to keep only free-range chickens would increase prices and lead to a flood of eggs from foreign battery hens. More than likely. It will also almost undoubtedly lead to a lot more chickens being killed by predators, if they really are to be free-range. Fritz Grillitsch, the president of the national farmers' association, called for compensation for farmers. He said: "While we welcome aspects of this law, what pains us is the ban on cages, which is an attack on farmers, their families and their livelihoods." He said Austrian consumers had a duty to rethink their behaviour by buying local products even if they became more expensive because of the new law. Even some animal rights activists gave warning that the law could fail animals "Not only are the philosophies of animal rights and animal welfare separated by irreconcilable differences... the enactment of animal welfare measures actually impedes the achievement of animal rights... Welfare reforms, by their very nature, can only serve to retard the pace at which animal rights goals are achieved." --Gary Francione and Tom Regan, "A Movement's Means Create Its Ends," The Animals' Agenda, January/February 1992, pp. 40-42. if it led to the import of animal products from countries with poor rights records. Despite strict protection laws, many animals are imported annually into Switzerland and Germany and kept secretly in substandard conditions. The law which will come into effect next January, will set fines of between £1,400 and £10,000 for animal cruelty. Inspectors will patrol the country and make random checks to ensure that the law is implemented correctly. Chancellor Wolfgang Schussel said the law was a "pioneering example" for the world on how to treat animals, adding that he would push for similar laws to be implemented across the European Union. The animal protection spokesman for the Socialists, Ulrike Sima, said it was a "day of joy" for Austria and her counterpart for the Greens, Brigid Weinzinger, said the law signalled that "Austrian society has bettered itself". The most controversial aspect of the law concerned the slaughtering of animals according to religious practices. The far-Right Freedom Party, the main supporter of the law, had called for a total ban but, under a compromise deal, the rules now state that suffering must be cut from "three minutes to just a few seconds" through the administration of tranquillisers. __________________________________________________ _______ Reactions to the throat cut The variable of reactions to the incision must be separated from the variable of the time required for the animal to become completely insensible. Recordings of EEG or evoked potentials measure the time required for the animal to lose consciousness. They are not measures of pain. Careful observations of the animal's behavioural reactions to the cut are one of the best ways to determine if cutting the throat without prior stunning is painful. The time required for the animals to become unconscious will be discussed later. [...] Blood on the equipment did not appear to upset the cattle. They voluntarily entered the box when the rear gate was opened. Some cattle licked the blood. In all three restraint systems, the animals had little or no reaction to the throat cut. There was a slight flinch when the blade first touched the throat. This flinch was much less vigorous than an animal's reaction to an eartag punch. There was no further reaction as the cut proceeded. Both carotids were severed in all animals. Some animals in the modified ASPCA pen were held so loosely by the head holder and rear pusher gate that they could have easily pulled away from the knife. [...] http://www.grandin.com/ritual/kosher.slaugh.html ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ |
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