Highlights for animals in 2021, with MEP Anja Hazekamp

This week our Political Affairs Manager Joe Moran speaks with MEP Tilly Metz, President of the Parliamentary Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals and Chair of the Committee of Inquiry on the Protection of Animals during Transport. She filled us in on last month's vote in the European Parliament, how successful she feels the Committee was, why the European Commission needs to urgently revise the rules, and much more.

With her tenure as President of the Parliamentary Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals coming to a close, we also reflect on Anja’s highlights and successes over the past 2.5 years.

With large numbers of animals being sold in online marketplaces in Europe, both animals and consumers are at risk. The Digital Services Act could help tackle this issue through improved regulation of digital markets. We speak with Georgia Diamantopoulou, EU Companion Animal Policy Coordinator at Four Paws, and Maryant Fernandez Perez, a lawyer and Senior Digital Policy Officer at the European Consumer Organisation BEUC, about how this legislation could better protect consumers and animals.

Steve McIvor, CEO of World Animal Protection, explains the organisation's new strategy to end the wildlife trade, and why international action is needed at the G20 Summit to make this a priority. 

More than 200 million working animals support the livelihoods of over 600 million people. With Dr Joe Collins from The Donkey Sanctuary, we explore what kind of roles horses, donkeys and other working equines perform in the EU and beyond. From Greece to China, we explore how crucial working equines can be to developing communities and how we can work to protect their welfare and empower those persons who work with them.

We speak to Julia Fentern, who has led Unilever’s non-animal science work for more than 20 years. Unilever, along with other major brands such as Dove, The Body Shop and numerous NGOs, are driving this ECI to achieve change for animals used in science.

As outlined in the EU Farm to Fork Strategy, there is an urgent need to shift towards more plant-based diets and alternative proteins in Europe in order to improve animal welfare, mitigate climate change and prevent biodiversity loss. We are joined by MEP Francisco Guerreiro to discuss the importance of transforming food systems in the EU, and how we can make that happen.

The End the Cage Age European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI), which launched in September 2018 and gained over 1.6 million signatures, has now become the first successful ECI on farmed animal welfare. We speak with Aleksandra Terzieva, Public Affairs Advisor at Compassion in World Farming EU. CIWF led a coalition of 170 NGOs from across Europe and rallied citizens from every corner of the Union to achieve this success.

Our expert special guest this week is Janneke Aelen from the Aquaculture Stewardship Council, who fills us in on the future of fish welfare research and how we can achieve better protections for fish. Learn more on our website.

With Belgium as a case study, we explore how a Positive List for species kept as pets can act as an effective solution to regulate the trade in exotic animals, reducing animal suffering and better protecting public health.