7 Reasons Why We Need to #EndTheCageAge in Europe
The #EndTheCageAge European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) could bring about a seismic shift in Europe’s farming system. EU citizens are joining together and demanding that the European Commission ban the use of cages in animal agriculture.
Animals on farms in Europe need us to reach 1 million signatures on the ECI. Here are seven reasons why:
1. Because rabbits are social animals who require a stimulating environment, and they can go insane when kept inside tiny wire cages.
2. Because pigs in most EU countries can be restrained in sow stalls for up to four weeks at a time, preventing them from moving naturally or even turning around.
3. Because the wire mesh of cages rubs off chickens’ feathers, chafes their skin, and cripples their feet. And farmers cut off part of their beaks when they’re just a few days old to prevent them from pecking each other to death in response to the stress of severe crowding.
4. Because farrowing crates prevent mother pigs from fulfilling their strong urge to build a nest and care for their babies as they would naturally.
5. Because ducks are kept in small individual cages and regularly and painfully force-fed – until their livers swell to up to 10 times their normal size – before finally being killed for foie gras.
6. Because quails are crammed into tiny wire-mesh cages, where they’re unable to carry out any kind of natural behaviour, such as nesting, dust-bathing, or socialising.
7. Because piglet cages are designed to maximise a farm’s productivity and drive down expenses, but they take a devastating toll on each animal’s well-being.
Join the Campaign to End Cage Farming
Cage confinement inflicts suffering on enormous numbers of animals, including quails, pigs, chickens, and rabbits. But a massive coalition of organisations is uniting to push the EU and UK governments to end the cage age.
Through the #EndTheCageAge European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI), EU citizens are coming together to help rid Europe of these cages and deal a potentially devastating blow to industries that abuse animals. PETA and over 140 other groups have already mobilised more than 650,000 people across Europe. But to be successful, the ECI must be backed by at least 1 million voting-age EU citizens from at least seven member states, securing us the right to a public hearing in the European Parliament and compelling the European Commission to spell out what action it will take in response.
An ECI is a powerful initiative to influence lawmakers in Europe. That means it requires more personal data than a regular petition. Each EU member state has set its own rules for collecting signatures – some require details such as a passport or ID number. The website has been certified according to EU regulations to ensure that personal data is stored securely, is used only for validating your ECI signature, and will be deleted after signatures have been counted.
Because of the upcoming Brexit deadline, signatures from UK citizens will not be valid at the September 2019 #EndTheCageAge ECI end date.
In the UK, millions of animals are forced to spend their entire lives imprisoned in cramped, filthy, barren cages or crates. This is extremely cruel and unnecessary – which is why, together with other leading animal-protection groups, we’ve launched a petition calling on the government to take an important first step in reducing the suffering of animals on farms by banning the use of cruel confinement systems in animal agriculture. We need to gather 100,000 signatures in order to bring about an important parliamentary debate on the issue.
If you live in the UK, please join PETA, other animal-protection organisations, and a host of public figures – including Joanna Lumley and Deborah Meaden – in calling for a ban on the use of cruel confinement systems on UK farms by signing the petition.If we work together and raise our voices, we’ll have an opportunity to #EndTheCageAge.
