Document type : article published on the Agglotv website (Switzerland)
Author : Agglotv
Preview: Highly intensive farming practices in poultry and egg production cause severe physical damage to the animals: a study by the University of Bern has revealed that 97 percent of laying hens have a broken breastbone (the wishbone). From the point of view of the PSA, the Swiss Animal Protection Association, a change of direction in poultry farming is urgently needed in order to reduce animal suffering with slower growth regimes for broiler farms and a reduction in laying performance for laying hens. This issue has also seen two interventions submitted to the Swiss National Council. [...]
The National Council is soon to deal with two interventions calling for a more animal-welfare oriented approach to the production of eggs and poultry meat in highly-intensive farming systems. National Councillor Martina Munz (SP/SH), who is also a member of the central committee of the Swiss Animal Protection Association (PSA), wants the federal government to act quickly to exert influence on poultry farmers in order to ensure that egg and poultry meat production is animal-friendly. In its response, the Federal Council writes that "changes to breeding objectives has led to a considerable improvement in the health of broilers in recent years." This is too sweeping a statement, which, in the view of the Swiss Animal Protection Association (PSA), does not reflect the current difficult situation in poultry farming. National Councillor Meret Schneider (Greens/ZH) is calling for an amendment to the Animal Protection Act to ban cruel broiler-farming practices. The Federal Council is asking for her intervention to be rejected.
