Problems of animal welfare in industrial stock-breeding

Recommendation 620 (1971)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly debate on 20 January 1971 (20th Sitting) (see Doc. 2869, report of the Committee on Agriculture). Text adopted by the Assembly on 20 January 1971 (20th Sitting).

The Assembly,

I. Having taken note of the report by its Committee on Agriculture on the problems of animal welfare in industrial stock-breeding (Doc. 2869) ;

1. Noting that the number of industrial stock-breeding enterprises is increasing rapidly in most European countries ;

2. Considering that certain forms of industrial stock-breeding are contrary to the animal's natural behaviour and produce in them anomalies and degeneration which automatically cause suffering ;

3. Noting that fundamental research on psychology of domestic animals is still in its infancy, and considering it should be encouraged ;

4. Noting that man's fundamental attitude towards animals has been radically transformed over the centuries, particularly as regards his responsibility towards creatures in his care ;

5. Recalling that the Council of Europe has already prepared an international Agreement for the Protection of Animals during International Transport ;

6. Considering that an international convention on animal welfare is necessary not only for ethical but also for economic reasons,

7. Recommends that the Committee of Ministers :

7.1 set up a committee of experts to prepare an international convention on domestic animal welfare in industrial stock-breeding enterprises, or reconstitute for that purpose the committee of experts responsible at the time for drafting the Agreement on the Protection of Animals during International Transport ;

7.2 invite the aforesaid committee of experts :

a to be guided, when preparing the abovementioned convention, by the draft bill now under study in the Federal Republic of Germany and by the conclusions of the Brambell Report drafted in the United Kingdom ;

b to encourage the development and co-ordination of fundamental research on the natural behaviour patterns of animals, in order to determine to what extent those behaviour patterns are adversely affected by the new methods of industrial stock-raising.