European Parliament calls for better animal protection during transport – EURACTIV.com

The European Parliament has adopted recommendations for tougher and more effective animal protection rules during live transports. Some MEPs, however, bemoan a lack of ambition and call for a hard limit on the duration of journeys.

The recommendations, which the parliament’s plenary adopted during its session on Thursday (20 January), call on the European Commission to make the EU’s animal transport rules more ambitious and bring them in line with the most recent scientific findings.

The lawmakers also want existing rules to be consistently implemented throughout member states.

“For years, systematic violations of rules during transport have led to unbearable suffering for millions of animals”, Green MEP Tilly Metz said after the plenary vote. “The Parliament has asked the European Commission to present a new regulation with clear rules”, she explained, adding that individual member states were also called upon to come down hard on any rule breakers.

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