Better animal welfare: Now it's the chickens' turn

Citizens and politicians gathered Monday evening for a packed event at Christiansborg under the headline 'Now it's the chickens' turn'.

The message was crystal clear: It is not only in pig production that animal welfare is far too poor, and the conditions call for political action.

There was not a single free seat left when the animal welfare organization Anima opened the doors Monday evening for a storm meeting in the Fællessalen at Christiansborg. SF’s animal welfare spokesperson, Carl Valentin, was co-host of the event, which aimed to focus on the serious welfare problems in Danish chicken barns: extreme breeding and extreme lack of space.

Animal welfare spokespeople from five parties, including two additional government parties, namely Social Democrats and Radikale Venstre, were invited to learn more about the state of the chicken industry and to discuss what can and should be done politically to raise the baseline for chickens.

During the debate, the panel was met with strong expectations that the Folketing (Danish Parliament) will take responsibility and put an end to the production of the most burdened chicken breeds. All five spokespersons agreed that improvements for the chickens must happen before the next parliamentary election, and there was consensus among the attending politicians that broiler chickens should have more space than they do today. 

Now it's the chickens' turn!

Michael Kjerkegaard, chairman of the Organic Association, is pleased with the political statements and points out that organic farming is an obvious way to meet politicians' wishes for better animal welfare.

“We want to ensure better animal welfare for all slaughter chickens. There should be access to breeding work that gives the animals a natural, healthy, and robust growth, so they do not suffer. And we need to tighten animal welfare rules by, for example, elevating organic regulations to minimum standards, so everyone must meet them. Last but not least, we must ensure a system where it becomes attractive to produce chickens with good animal welfare,” says Michael Kjerkegaard.

This can, among other things, be achieved by adjusting the mechanisms that influence demand. Removing VAT on organic products is a good place to start, he points out.

"We just showed at Food Festival how to make a whole organic chicken go a long way, and we have a consumer campaign coming up that will help increase awareness of the added value of organic chicken. When we raise consumer awareness, we can help move animal welfare forward.”

Animal welfare has become core policy

The latest parliamentary election, dubbed by many as the ‘pig election,’ cemented that animal welfare in animal agriculture has become a central theme in Danish politics.

"The pig election clearly showed that animal welfare has become core policy. It gives hope, and while we celebrate the government’s ambitions for pig production, we also want to highlight that other animals, namely chickens, suffer from extreme breeding and extreme lack of space,” states campaign leader Mathias Madsen from Anima after Monday’s meeting, where Carl Valentin, SF’s animal welfare spokesperson, pointed out a paradox.

“Although I am immensely proud that improving conditions in pig production has become this government’s big project, there is something a bit paradoxical in having a very strong focus on one species while forgetting the others,” said Carl Valentin.