Legislative Efforts

~~ Animal Rights Legislation ~~ ~ Italy ~ Walk Your Dog Three Times a Day or Be Fined Italian Town's New Law Also Forbids Owners From Dyeing Their Pets' Fur ROME (April 23) - Dog owners in Turin will be fined up to $650 if they don't walk their pets at least three times a day, under a new law from the city's council. Some dog owners, such as the one for this miniature poodle, dye their pets' fur. But Turin has banned the practice. People will also be banned from dyeing their pets' fur or "any form of animal mutilation" for merely aesthetic motives such as docking dogs' tails, under the law about to be passed in the northern Italian city. "In Turin it will be illegal to turn one's dog into a ridiculous fluffy toy," the city's La Stampa daily reported. Italians can already be fined up to 10,000 euros and spend a year in prison if found guilty of torturing or abandoning their pets, but Turin's new rules go into much greater detail. Dogs may be led for walks by people on bicycles, the rules say, "but not in a way that would tire the animal too much." Italy considers itself an animal-loving nation and in many cities stray cats are protected by law. Still some 150,000 pet dogs and 200,000 cats are abandoned in Italy every year, according to animal rights groups. To enforce the law, Turin police would rely largely on the help of tipsters spotting cruel treatment by their neighbors, La Stampa reported. It said the 20-page rulebook gives Turin the most stringent animal protection rules in the country. It even bans fairgrounds from giving away goldfish in plastic bags. Here's the original posting. Posted 5/5/05 ~ Italy ~ Italian animal rights law puts lobster off the menu By Bruce Johnston in Rome (July 3, 2004) Residents in the prosperous Italian town of Reggio Emilia were outraged yesterday after its council adopted an animal rights bylaw that bans boiling live lobster as "useless torture". Supporters of the move said that it gave animals - both pets and those in the wild - equal rights to man, but local pet-owners criticised it as terrifying political correctness. Under the bylaw, "sociable" birds such as budgerigars and parrots must be kept in pairs. Birdcages must be at least five times the bird's wingspan in width, and three times in height. It also makes it illegal to keep a goldfish in a round glass bowl. Anyone who breaks the law faces a fine of up to €495 (£325). Davide Nitrosi, a resident, said: "I'd like someone on the council to explain how people are supposed to determine that a bird is 'sociable'. Also, how am I supposed to kill a lobster before cooking it? Hit it on the head?" Hunting with dogs will be effectively prohibited because of a ban on the animals entering areas where meatballs laced with poison have been found. Another clause requires owners to ensure that each pet sharing a meal gets an equal portion. A new council office devoted to the protection of "urban fauna" is to be established, with a full-time employee to look after stray cats. The bylaw is thought to be the first of its kind in Italy, a country not renowned for its humane treatment of animals - but Reggio Emilia, a town of 120,000 people near Bolgna, has one of the highest standards of living in the country, and its administrators say that it can afford to take better care of its pets. Olga Patacini, a veterinary surgeon, advised councillors to revise the law. "The last law concerning the matter in the city was passed in 1913 when the whole idea of keeping pets was very different," she said. The law was passed on Friday night after a heated discussion in the town hall, with 22 councillors voting in favour, and only one against. The dissenter Marco Marziani, a councillor with Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia Party, said: "The idea of comparing the rights of an animal to that of human beings completely casts into the shadows the sacred role of human life." Critics say that the law has only been adopted as a sop to the powerful Green Party faction on the local council, and say that it will harm the local economy. They say that it will prevent amusement park owners from giving away goldfish, chicks and rabbits as prizes. Pet shops will be compelled to ensure that cages, coops and hutches have non-slip surfaces that are sheltered from the sun and wind, and that the animals are displayed in their windows for limited periods. The law will have particular impact on Reggio Emilia because of its position as Italy's unofficial amateur bird-breeding capital and host of an international bird-breeding festival. Ivan Gualerzi, a board member of the local chapter of the Italian Ornithologists Federation, complained yesterday that the council had not consulted breeders. He said that the standard size of birdcage used by breeders during the festival, when 12,000 birds were on show in the town, would be outlawed. "This law is trying to impose standards for animals which fail to take into account their individuality," he said. "They're trying to impose a standard that won't work. The size of a cage depends on the type of bird, and on the individual bird itself. If some birds, such as parrots, are put in too large a space they get depressed." He said the requirement to have rough floors in birdcages was absurd. "Birds don't slip," he said. Even residents sympathetic to the legislation are dismissive. "The spirit of the law is good, but in practical terms it's exaggerated and a bit of a mess," said Tiziano Bassoli, a retired butcher and songbird breeder. "It looks like it's been cobbled together in an evening." ©Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004 Posted 6/27/04 ~ Austria ~ Austria enacts strict animal rights law Measure is aimed at halting cruelty By William J. Kole, Associated Press (May 28, 2004) VIENNA -- Hens will be free to run around barnyards, lions and tigers will vanish from circus acts, and Dobermans will sport what nature intended -- floppy ears and longer tails -- under a tough animal rights law adopted yesterday in Austria.The anticruelty law, one of Europe's harshest, will ban pet owners from cropping their dogs' ears or tails, force farmers to uncage their chickens, and ensure that puppies and kittens no longer swelter in pet shop windows. Violators will be subject to fines of $2,420, and in cases of extreme cruelty could be fined up to $18,160 and have their animals seized by the authorities. Lawmakers, some holding stuffed toy animals, voted unanimously to enact the law, which takes effect in January and will be phased in over several years. Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel said Austria was sending a stern message to the rest of Europe and the world about respecting animals. ''Austria is taking the role of pioneer," Schuessel told parliament, vowing to press for similar legislation across the European Union. ''This new law will give both producers and consumers a good feeling, and it lifts animal protection to the highest level internationally." It is the latest example of how the animals rights issue is gaining attention across Europe: The European Commission has proposed a sweeping overhaul of EU regulations on transporting livestock across the continent to give more protection to the hundreds of thousands of animals that are shipped daily and to prevent deaths and abuse. In March, Hungary's parliament banned cockfighting and the breeding or sale of animals for fighting, and it made animal torture -- previously a misdemeanor -- a felony punishable by up to two years in prison. Last summer, the region of Catalonia, which passed Spain's first animal cruelty law in 1988, banned the killing of abandoned cats and dogs in animal shelters and raised fines for cruelty to as much as $24,200. Italy is considering a law that forbids sending horses to the slaughterhouse after their competitive careers are over, and Germany plans to phase out mass farming of caged chickens by the end of 2006. Austrians' love for animals dates to imperial times, with the famed Lipizzaner stallions pampered as a source of national pride. Aimed primarily at poultry and other livestock, Austria's new law also outlaws the use of lions and other wild animals in circuses and makes it illegal to restrain dogs with chains, choke collars, or ''invisible fences" that administer mild electric shocks to confine animals. The measure enjoyed the support of all four main parties in the National Assembly, where Minister of Social Affairs Herbert Haupt drew laughter by holding up a stuffed toy dog while addressing lawmakers yesterday. Haupt, a veterinarian, had pushed for the law since the 1980s. It still needs the president's signature, a formality given its unanimous passage. ''Animals and consumers are the clear winners with this law," said Ulrike Sima, a lawmaker specializing in animal protection issues for the opposition Socialist Party. A key provision bans the widespread practice of confining chickens to small cages on farms and makes it a crime to bind cattle tightly with ropes. Pet owners and breeders no longer will be allowed to crop puppies' ears or tails, a common practice with certain breeds such as Doberman pinschers. Sweden has banned the practice since 1989. Invisible fences are out, too, though they are nowhere near as ubiquitous here as they are in US suburbs. ''This is a first step in the right direction," said Andreas Sax of the Austrian animal rights organization Four Paws. Sax said the law will not do enough to improve conditions for cattle and pigs, who often are injured in cramped pens with slatted floors, and he criticized some sections he said were too vague. The Austrian Farm Federation opposed the law, arguing that it will increase costs for farmers and could lead to more imports of poultry from countries with looser restrictions. Chicken farmers will be allowed several years to phase in the new rules. Those who recently invested in new cages will have until 2020 to turn their birds loose to run free inside fences. Austria enacts strict animal rights law © Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company Posted 6/6/04 ~ Germany ~ CNN reports Germany recently voted on this issue (May 17, 2002) BERLIN, Germany -- Germany has become the first European nationto vote to guarantee animal rights in its constitution. A majority of lawmakers in the Bundestag voted on Friday to add "and animals" to a clause that obliges the state to respect and protect thedignity of humans. The main impact of the measure will be to restrict the use of animals in experiments. For the full text, here's the CNN posting. Posted: 5/25/0 ~ Great Britain ~ Pets May Get Own "Bill of Rights" April 29, 2002 LONDON (Reuters) - Less than two years after European human rights were incorporated into British law, steps are underway to give pets their own "bill of rights" aimed at guaranteeing them a minimum quality of life. The Sunday Times newspaper reported that Elliot Morley, an environment minister, will outline proposals Tuesday to update animal welfare legislation that dates back to 1911. The weekly broadsheet said that under the proposed rules, pet owners couldbe prosecuted if they failed to give dogs, cats and rabbits what they needed -- including adequate food and water, enough space and companionship. "We have an obligation to treat animals in the way that a civilized society expects," Morley is quoted as saying. A cartoon accompanying the front-page article depicts a gerbil addressing its human master from inside a cage: "I demand to speak to my lawyer." For additional information, check out this online BBC News article. Posted: 5/4/02 Home \| Mission Statement \| News \| Events Success Stories \| In Memoriam \| How Can I Help? Links \| Membership \| Catalog \| Contact Us For more information, please contact: Susan Wheeler: rappwheel@aol.com or Mary Kennedy: marezie@comcast..net

~~ Animal Rights Legislation ~~

~ Italy ~

Walk Your Dog Three Times a Day or Be Fined
Italian Town's New Law Also Forbids Owners From Dyeing Their Pets' Fur

ROME (April 23) - Dog owners in Turin will be fined up to $650 if they don't walk their pets at least three times a day, under a new law from the city's council. Some dog owners, such as the one for this miniature poodle, dye their pets' fur. But Turin has banned the practice.

People will also be banned from dyeing their pets' fur or "any form of animal mutilation" for merely aesthetic motives such as docking dogs' tails, under the law about to be passed in the northern Italian city.

"In Turin it will be illegal to turn one's dog into a ridiculous fluffy toy," the city's La Stampa daily reported. Italians can already be fined up to 10,000 euros and spend a year in prison if found guilty of torturing or abandoning their pets, but Turin's new rules go into much greater detail.

Dogs may be led for walks by people on bicycles, the rules say, "but not in a way that would tire the animal too much." Italy considers itself an animal-loving nation and in many cities stray cats are protected by law. Still some 150,000 pet dogs and 200,000 cats are abandoned in Italy every year, according to animal rights groups.

To enforce the law, Turin police would rely largely on the help of tipsters spotting cruel treatment by their neighbors, La Stampa reported. It said the 20-page rulebook gives Turin the most stringent animal protection rules in the country. It even bans fairgrounds from giving away goldfish in plastic bags.

Here's the original posting.

Posted 5/5/05

~ Italy ~

Italian animal rights law puts lobster off the menu

By Bruce Johnston in Rome (July 3, 2004)

Residents in the prosperous Italian town of Reggio Emilia were outraged yesterday after its council adopted an animal rights bylaw that bans boiling live lobster as "useless torture".

Supporters of the move said that it gave animals - both pets and those in the wild - equal rights to man, but local pet-owners criticised it as terrifying political correctness.

Under the bylaw, "sociable" birds such as budgerigars and parrots must be kept in pairs. Birdcages must be at least five times the bird's wingspan in width, and three times in height. It also makes it illegal to keep a goldfish in a round glass bowl. Anyone who breaks the law faces a fine of up to €495 (£325).

Davide Nitrosi, a resident, said: "I'd like someone on the council to explain how people are supposed to determine that a bird is 'sociable'. Also, how am I supposed to kill a lobster before cooking it? Hit it on the head?"

Hunting with dogs will be effectively prohibited because of a ban on the animals entering areas where meatballs laced with poison have been found. Another clause requires owners to ensure that each pet sharing a meal gets an equal portion.

A new council office devoted to the protection of "urban fauna" is to be established, with a full-time employee to look after stray cats.

The bylaw is thought to be the first of its kind in Italy, a country not renowned for its humane treatment of animals - but Reggio Emilia, a town of 120,000 people near Bolgna, has one of the highest standards of living in the country, and its administrators say that it can afford to take better care of its pets.

Olga Patacini, a veterinary surgeon, advised councillors to revise the law. "The last law concerning the matter in the city was passed in 1913 when the whole idea of keeping pets was very different," she said.

The law was passed on Friday night after a heated discussion in the town hall, with 22 councillors voting in favour, and only one against.

The dissenter Marco Marziani, a councillor with Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia Party, said: "The idea of comparing the rights of an animal to that of human beings completely casts into the shadows the sacred role of human life."

Critics say that the law has only been adopted as a sop to the powerful Green Party faction on the local council, and say that it will harm the local economy. They say that it will prevent amusement park owners from giving away goldfish, chicks and rabbits as prizes. Pet shops will be compelled to ensure that cages, coops and hutches have non-slip surfaces that are sheltered from the sun and wind, and that the animals are displayed in their windows for limited periods.

The law will have particular impact on Reggio Emilia because of its position as Italy's unofficial amateur bird-breeding capital and host of an international bird-breeding festival.

Ivan Gualerzi, a board member of the local chapter of the Italian Ornithologists Federation, complained yesterday that the council had not consulted breeders. He said that the standard size of birdcage used by breeders during the festival, when 12,000 birds were on show in the town, would be outlawed.

"This law is trying to impose standards for animals which fail to take into account their individuality," he said. "They're trying to impose a standard that won't work. The size of a cage depends on the type of bird, and on the individual bird itself. If some birds, such as parrots, are put in too large a space they get depressed."

He said the requirement to have rough floors in birdcages was absurd. "Birds don't slip," he said. Even residents sympathetic to the legislation are dismissive.

"The spirit of the law is good, but in practical terms it's exaggerated and a bit of a mess," said Tiziano Bassoli, a retired butcher and songbird breeder. "It looks like it's been cobbled together in an evening."

©Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004
Posted 6/27/04

~ Austria ~

Austria enacts strict animal rights law
Measure is aimed at halting cruelty

By William J. Kole, Associated Press (May 28, 2004)

VIENNA -- Hens will be free to run around barnyards, lions and tigers will vanish from circus acts, and Dobermans will sport what nature intended -- floppy ears and longer tails -- under a tough animal rights law adopted yesterday in Austria.The anticruelty law, one of Europe's harshest, will ban pet owners from cropping their dogs' ears or tails, force farmers to uncage their chickens, and ensure that puppies and kittens no longer swelter in pet shop windows.

Violators will be subject to fines of $2,420, and in cases of extreme cruelty could be fined up to $18,160 and have their animals seized by the authorities.

Lawmakers, some holding stuffed toy animals, voted unanimously to enact the law, which takes effect in January and will be phased in over several years. Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel said Austria was sending a stern message to the rest of Europe and the world about respecting animals.

''Austria is taking the role of pioneer," Schuessel told parliament, vowing to press for similar legislation across the European Union. ''This new law will give both producers and consumers a good feeling, and it lifts animal protection to the highest level internationally."

It is the latest example of how the animals rights issue is gaining attention across Europe:

The European Commission has proposed a sweeping overhaul of EU regulations on transporting livestock across the continent to give more protection to the hundreds of thousands of animals that are shipped daily and to prevent deaths and abuse.

In March, Hungary's parliament banned cockfighting and the breeding or sale of animals for fighting, and it made animal torture -- previously a misdemeanor -- a felony punishable by up to two years in prison.

Last summer, the region of Catalonia, which passed Spain's first animal cruelty law in 1988, banned the killing of abandoned cats and dogs in animal shelters and raised fines for cruelty to as much as $24,200.

Italy is considering a law that forbids sending horses to the slaughterhouse after their competitive careers are over, and Germany plans to phase out mass farming of caged chickens by the end of 2006.

Austrians' love for animals dates to imperial times, with the famed Lipizzaner stallions pampered as a source of national pride.

Aimed primarily at poultry and other livestock, Austria's new law also outlaws the use of lions and other wild animals in circuses and makes it illegal to restrain dogs with chains, choke collars, or ''invisible fences" that administer mild electric shocks to confine animals.

The measure enjoyed the support of all four main parties in the National Assembly, where Minister of Social Affairs Herbert Haupt drew laughter by holding up a stuffed toy dog while addressing lawmakers yesterday.

Haupt, a veterinarian, had pushed for the law since the 1980s. It still needs the president's signature, a formality given its unanimous passage.

''Animals and consumers are the clear winners with this law," said Ulrike Sima, a lawmaker specializing in animal protection issues for the opposition Socialist Party. A key provision bans the widespread practice of confining chickens to small cages on farms and makes it a crime to bind cattle tightly with ropes.

Pet owners and breeders no longer will be allowed to crop puppies' ears or tails, a common practice with certain breeds such as Doberman pinschers. Sweden has banned the practice since 1989.

Invisible fences are out, too, though they are nowhere near as ubiquitous here as they are in US suburbs.

''This is a first step in the right direction," said Andreas Sax of the Austrian animal rights organization Four Paws.

Sax said the law will not do enough to improve conditions for cattle and pigs, who often are injured in cramped pens with slatted floors, and he criticized some sections he said were too vague.

The Austrian Farm Federation opposed the law, arguing that it will increase costs for farmers and could lead to more imports of poultry from countries with looser restrictions.

Chicken farmers will be allowed several years to phase in the new rules. Those who recently invested in new cages will have until 2020 to turn their birds loose to run free inside fences.

Austria enacts strict animal rights law

Posted 6/6/04

~ Germany ~

CNN reports Germany recently voted on this issue
(May 17, 2002)

BERLIN, Germany -- Germany has become the first European nationto vote to guarantee animal rights in its constitution. A majority of lawmakers in the Bundestag voted on Friday to add "and animals" to a clause that obliges the state to respect and protect thedignity of humans.

The main impact of the measure will be to restrict the use of animals in experiments.

For the full text, here's the CNN posting.

Posted: 5/25/0

~ Great Britain ~

Pets May Get Own "Bill of Rights"

April 29, 2002

LONDON (Reuters) - Less than two years after European human rights were incorporated into British law, steps are underway to give pets their own "bill of rights" aimed at guaranteeing them a minimum quality of life.

The Sunday Times newspaper reported that Elliot Morley, an environment minister, will outline proposals Tuesday to update animal welfare legislation that dates back to 1911.

The weekly broadsheet said that under the proposed rules, pet owners couldbe prosecuted if they failed to give dogs, cats and rabbits what they needed -- including adequate food and water, enough space and companionship.

"We have an obligation to treat animals in the way that a civilized society expects," Morley is quoted as saying.

A cartoon accompanying the front-page article depicts a gerbil addressing its human master from inside a cage: "I demand to speak to my lawyer."

For additional information, check out this online BBC News article.

Posted: 5/4/02

For more information, please contact: Susan Wheeler: rappwheel@aol.com or
Mary Kennedy: marezie@comcast..net