MEPs call for more protection for dogs and cats

Brussels – The Strasbourg European Parliament is compactly calling for better protections for dogs and cats. At the close of the plenary session, MEPs approved today (19 June), with 457 votes in favour, 17 against and 86 abstentions, the House’s negotiating position on new EU rules to improve the welfare and traceability of the two most common species of pets, proposed by the Commission in December 2023.

Objective: identify them all by microchipping, register them in national databases (strictly interoperable) and ban their sale in pet shops. The chamber also calls for cats and dogs from third countries to be microchipped and registered if they cross EU borders for sale. For pet animals, their owners should preregister them online at least five working days before entering the EU.

The European Parliament also calls for a ban on the mating between parents and offspring, grandparents and grandchildren, brothers and sisters (even with only one parent in common), as well as a ban on the breeding and use, in exhibitions and competitions, of specimens with “excessive conformational traits” that may pose a high risk of negative effects on their welfare.

No to spiked collars or choke collars without adequate safety devices, and in general to the practice of tying animals unless necessary for medical treatment. Finally, Strasbourg is also targeting the illegal trade in puppies, which generates at least €1 billion a year.

Dario Nardella (photo: Mathieu Cugnot/European Parliament)

According to Dario Nardella, MEP for the PD and coordinator of the Socialists in the parliamentary Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI)committee, as well as shadow rapporteur of the measure, this is “a first concrete step in the fight against the mistreatment and abandonment of pets.”

The text, he says, strengthened the twelve-star executive’s initial proposal by adding “mandatory microchipping and registration for all dogs and cats, the possibility of opting for the European digital passport, prohibition of abandonment by handlers, regulations against painful practices and concrete tools to prevent and report abuse.”

“Without identification and traceability, animals are invisible – continues the former mayor of Florence—and invisible are also the crimes committed against them.” “This regulation is not only about animals, it is a reflection of the Europe we want, which protects the weakest, which educates to respect, which recognises the dignity of every living being,” he concludes.

According to Commission figures, some 44 per cent of EU citizens own a pet, totalling over 72 million dogs and 84 million cats. The trade in dogs and cats has grown considerably in recent years, amounting to approximately €1.3 billion per year, and about six out of ten owners buy their dog or cat online. Stray and abandoned animals, on the other hand, would amount to more than 100 million.