The second EU-network meeting between representatives of Competent Authorities (CAs) and the EURCAW-Poultry-SFA, took place online on October 2021, 26-27, on 2 * 0.5 days. This meeting was the occasion to present the objectives of the Centre, the past and present work programme, and the Centre’s work since its nomination. Furthermore, it permitted to discuss potential future priority areas of work, identify possible collaboration at the national level, and identify the main needs and...

The coordinator and deputy coordinator of EURCAW-Poultry-SFA took the opportunity to meet with Finnish and Swedish Reference Centres for animal welfare. The Finnish Centre was represented by Satu Raussi & Tiina Kauppinen, and the Swedish Centre by Lotta berg & Birgitta Staaf-Larsson. During these meetings, respective roles of the national and EU Reference Centres were explained and possible collaborations were identified, among which welfare assessment indicators...

In the context of the postponement of the World Poultry Conference in 2022 this webinar was the opportunity to present some works related to poultry welfare which were initially foreseen to be presented in 2020. Six oral presentations were given on topics such as adaptability of poultry genotypes to organic rearing, disturbance in broiler chicken, comparison between slow-growing broiler genotypes, blunting of the beak as an alternative to beak trimming in layers, exploration, and neophobia...

At the occasion of the annual meeting of the working group IX “Poultry welfare and management” of WPSA (World Poultry Science Association) that was held in Thessaloniki (Greece), some members of the Centre took the opportunity to meet with local welfare researchers. This visit was the opportunity to organize a meeting with the Greek Reference Centre for animal welfare, represented by Dr. Evengelina Sossidou. During this meeting, respective roles of the national and EU references...

Organized by EURCAW-Poultry-SFA. The webinar was held via Teams. Target audience: Official inspectors from the Competent Authorities of the EU MSs Attendance through invitation only.   The PDF of the presentation is available here. The webinar recording is available here.    Description: Council Regulation (EC) No 1099/2009 of 24 September 2009 on the protection of animals at the time of killing requires assessing the state of consciousness of the...

From the third to the fifth of November 2021, took place the 12th World Rabbit Congress in Nantes (France). This congress consisted of three days of conferences, poster sessions, oral sessions, and round tables on a lot of topics including Ethology and Welfare:   de Greef K.H., Rommers J.M. - The Dutch route to improve commercial rabbit welfare – rather collectively than by law enforcement. Dutra D., Villegas-Cayllahua E., Ferrari F., Costa M., Rein A., Silva A., Moraes P...

In May 2021, the European Commission designated a third EU Reference Centre for animal welfare, focusing on the welfare of ruminants and equines (Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/755). The tasks of the third centre (EURCAW Ruminants & Equines) include supporting the European Commission and the Member States in the application of animal welfare requirements for ruminants and equines, carrying out scientific and technical studies, as well as conducting training courses and...

Every year, hundreds of millions of male day-old layer chicks are killed after hatching in European Union. Male layer chicks are commercially useless for the eggs industry because they are not suitable for meat production and only females can lay. This unethical practice will be forbidden in France and Germany from 2022, both being the first countries in the world to ban it.    To avoid male day-old chicks culling, hatcheries need to be equipped...

Last first of July, took place the first meeting between the three EUropean Reference Centers on Animal Welfare and National Reference Centers and Supporting Bodies. This online meeting was a success. 21 European countries were represented. There were presentations of the EURCAWs and existing NRCs and workshops on scientific and technical issues on each species, training and communication. Report EURCAWs meeting for National Reference Centres & Supporting Bodies, online meeting 1...

The European Commission has responded positively to the European Citizen's Initiative (ECI) that collected 1.4 million signatures within one year from supporters in 28 Member States, being the first successful ECI on farm animals. The European Commission committed to propose to phase out and prohibit the use of cages for laying hens, sows, calves, rabbits, pullets, broiler breeders, layer breeders, quail, geese, and ducks. The proposal is expected by the end of 2023 and will be part of...