The transport of 275 million head of livestock, poultry and other animals on the highways and byways of Europe could come to a screeching end if animal-rights activists in Germany have their way.
In Germany, the first country in Europe to incorporate animal rights into its national constitution, activists are planning lawsuits and legislation aimed at halting all long-haul livestock transport in Europe.Saying they oppose “slaughterhouse tourism”, members of the German Animal Protection Society (Deutscher Tierschutzbund) are proposing limits on distances that animals can be conveyed overland in Europe.Currently, animals are transported from farms in one country to slaughters houses near major markets so that meat remains “fresh on the hoof” and to take advantage of cheaper slaughter near markets. It also cuts down on refrigeration and sanitation costs for transporting perishable meat.That means 25 million cattle, horses and sheep are transported over national boundaries annually in Europe, along with some 250 million smaller animals, from poultry to pigs.“These animals suffer needlessly in cramped transports while being taken from one corner of Europe to another,” says German Animal Protection Society official Tessy Loedermann.“It brings tears to your eyes to see the suffering endured by these creatures,” she says.If her group has its way, animal transports would be limited to 200 kilometres or just four hours of actual road time.The group is planning a legislative drive as well as lawsuits to achieve their goals.Germany, located at the heart of Europe, is the ideal place to bring such transport practises to a halt, she says. With the Baltic and North seas to the north and the Alps to the south, there is no easy way around Germany for transports of animals between eastern and western Europe.In recent weeks Germany has become the first European nation to guarantee animal rights in its constitution. A majority of lawmakers in the Bundestag voted in May to add “and animals” to a clause that obliges the state to respect and protect the dignity of humans. The Bundesrat upper house of parliament ratified the constitutional amendment in mid-June.The main impact of the measure will be to restrict the use of animals in laboratory experiments. Capping a decade of debate, the vote coincides with an election year which follows scandals in recent months about tainted beef, pork and poultry products.So great was the backing for the issue that in the end 543 lawmakers in Germany’s lower house of parliament voted in favour of giving animals constitutional rights. A scant 19 voted against it and 15 abstained.The country’s Consumer Affairs and Agriculture Minister Renate Kuenast of the Green Party, already under fire for the farm scandals, has vowed that the new constitutional amendment will lead to new legislation limiting the testing on animals of products like cosmetics and mild pain relievers.While such promises are often made in other countries, and animal- rights activists file lawsuits elsewhere, legal analysts are watching Germany because it is the first country in Europe to give constitutional rights to animals.German law had long defined the conditions under which animals can be held in captivity. But now Germany’s constitution, or Basic Law, reads: “The state takes responsibility for protecting the natural foundations of life and animals in the interest of future generations.”And that means the federal constitutional court will now have to weigh the rights of animals against other rights, such as the rights to carry out research or practise religion.Calling the change “ground-breaking”, Kuenast has been quick to say the rights of human beings will not be diminished. “People remain the most important”, she has said. “But animals will also have rights.”In other words, people will no longer be able to treat animals like animals in Germany any more.And that is precisely what animal-rights activists like Loedermann want to ensure with their new legal and legislative initiative.“It’s only a matter of justice for all,” she says. “After all, if I park in a no-parking zone for five minutes I get a ticket. But if a transport carries horses from Odessa to Paris in execrable conditions, nothing has happened.”Until now.“We’re going to see that something does happen,” Loedermann says, “and we’ve got constitutional right on our side.”
