A ban on controversial animal transport has failed for the time being. Cattle and sheep can still be exported to countries outside the EU. On Friday, the Federal Council rejected a corresponding proposal from the Agriculture Committee to ban transports to 17 North African and Central Asian countries in the future. Animal rights activists and veterinarians have been criticizing the transports for years; they repeatedly state that the animals on the journeys suffer from heat or cold, hunger or thirst. A study by the Animal Welfare Foundation on behalf of the EU Parliament recently showed that most of the cattle transport ships approved by the EU belong to the category of high-risk ships and are not suitable for live cargo.
Federal Agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner (CDU) rejects a ban on animal transport to non-EU countries. According to information from Badischen Zeitung In the run-up to the vote, she asked the state governments to let the proposal fail because, in her opinion, it violated, among other things, the freedom of movement of goods in the EU and the rules of the World Trade Organization. According to the decision of the regional chamber, the requirements for animal transport are to be tightened elsewhere. In the future, trips to the slaughterhouse in vehicles without ventilation when the outside temperature is more than 30 degrees should be completed within four and a half hours.
There are also changes in the way dogs are kept. In the commercial breeding of dogs, a caregiver may in future look after a maximum of three litters at the same time. A minimum time of four hours should be specified for the daily handling of puppies, even for private breeding. Dogs bred using torturous methods are not allowed to be shown at events.