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PARIS––“I am delighted to report that the 167-member
World Organization for Animal Health in their afternoon session of May
24, 2005 unanimously voted to adopt the first ever global animal welfare
standards––an effort that has the potential to benefit literally
billions of farm animals,” Youth for Conservation founder Josphat
Ngonyo of Kenya e-mailed to ANIMAL PEOPLE, moments ahead of a similar
note from World Society for the Protect-ion of Animals publicist Jonathan
Owen.
“WSPA
expects this to be just the start of further guidelines that the World
Organization for Animal Health will issue to protect the welfare of farm
animals,” Owen agreed.
“This marks a new dawn for the welfare of billions of farm animals
around the world. It is now globally recognised at the government level
that cruelty to farm animals is unacceptable,” affirmed veterinarian
David Wilkins of the International Coalition for Farm Animal Welfare.
“The new standards lay out minimum conditions advised by the chief
veterinary officers,” of the member nations, Owen summarized.
“Areas of particular significance include that animals must be able
to lie down comfortably and stand naturally when transported. Painful
procedures, including whipping, tail-twisting, use of nose twitches, pressure
on eyes, ears or external genitalia, or the use of unsuitable goads or
other aids such as sticks with sharp edges, metal piping, fencing wire
or heavy leather belts should not be used to move animals,” Owen
said. “Drivers transporting animals must be trained in humane handling.
When animals are killed for disease control, the methods should result
in immediate death and should not cause anxiety, distress, pain, or suffering
to the animal.”
The World Organization for Animal Health, best known by the French acronym
OIE, “is an intergovernmental body whose animal health standards
are recognized as a global reference by the World Trade Organsiation,”
Owen explained.
“The OIE’s Terrestrial Animal Health Code amounts to a common
veterinary standard that seeks to prevent the spread of disease by exported
farm animals and food products, and discourages new pathogens such as
the bird flu virus and mad cow prion,” elaborated Agence France-Presse.
“The OIE code is not obligatory but is regarded as a health benchmark
in world animal trade,” Agence France-Presse said.
“Courtesy of Compassion in World Farming, I was invited to speak
at a reception for delegates at the Hotel Royal Monceau in Paris,”
Ngonyo explained of his participation. “My presentation described
why animal welfare standards are important to Africa.”
Best known for organizing snare removal sweeps of the Kenyan national
parks and defending the Kenyan ban on sport hunting, Ngonyo emphasized
to about 300 of the 500 OIE delegates that Africans care about animal
welfare, citing both public health issues and humane concerns.
Rinderpest epidemics introduced to Africa with European livestock during
the 19th century have had a lasting effect on the ecology and economics
of the continent, perhaps nowhere more than in Kenya.
But the cattle-herding Masai were horrified that Europeans in 2001 killed
tens of thousands of cattle, especially in Britain, to control hoof-and-mouth
disease. The Masai treat cattle for hoof-and-mouth disease, even though
hoof-and-mouth lastingly reduces the milk and meat yield of a cow. Masai
leaders made repeated unsuccessful attempts to intercede on behalf of
the diseased European cattle, perplexed that people who care about dogs
and wildlife could be so seemingly indifferent toward livestock.
The Hotel Royal Monceau reception appeared to clinch the favorable vote
on the standards.
“A film on transport and slaughter was shown,” Ngonyo recounted.
“Each delegate was given a copy. Various representatives made presentations,”
including Wilkins, Levente Pencz of the Fauna Association in Hungary,
Barbara Dias Pais of the European Coalition for Farm Animals, Ghislain
Zuccolo of Protection Mondiale des Animaux de Ferme, and CIWF staff Kerry
Burgess and Paul Hook.
“Carole de Fraga and Lesley Lambert of CIWF presented more than
5,000 postcards received worldwide to OIE head Dr. Bernard Vallat,”
Ngonyo said.
Avian flu & broiler standards
The
OIE adoption of animal welfare standards followed an April 8 declaration
issued in concert with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization
that mass culling of poultry should no longer be considered an acceptable
method of combating the spread of the H5N1 avian influenza strain, which
has killed at least 56 humans, 37 of them in Vietnam.
“For ethical, ecological, and economic reasons,” the OIE and
FAO said, farmers and governments should vaccinate against H5N1 instead
of culling.
This “follows a realisation that killing large numbers of birds
is unlikely to eliminate H5N1,” the journal Nature summarized. “The
virus is widespread in both wild and domestic bird populations, meaning
it will continue to re-emerge no matter how many birds are killed. Previously,
some Asian governments preferred culling because they feared that vaccinating
birds would merely eliminate symptoms, allowing the virus to spread undetected.”
The European Commission and World Health Organization followed up by adopting
new policies for responding to H5N1, while China reportedly used vaccination
successfully to contain an outbreak that killed more than 1,000 wild migratory
waterfowl in western Qinghai province.
But the regulatory momentum on behalf of farm animals appeared to be broken
with the May 31, 2005 publication of draft European Union standards for
raising broiler chickens. The draft standards allow broiler chickens less
floor space than battery-caged egg layers––slightly less than
could be covered by a standard-size sheet of letter paper.
“This legislation will do little to improve the lives of chickens
in its current form,” Royal SPCA scientific officer Marc Cooper
told Amanda Brown, environment correspondent for The Scotsman.
“Surprisingly,” Cooper added, “the recommendation on
the space required for each bird ignores the advice of the E.U.’s
own scientific advisory committee.”
The Scots group Advocates for Animals made the same observation.
“The United Kingdom government takes the [rotating] presidency of
the E.U. today,” Advocates for Animals director Ross Minett said
on June 1. “We urge the Scottish Executive to ensure that the U.K.
government uses its presidency to demand genuine improvements in broiler
welfare.”
