Animal welfare: how Europe plans to regulate dog and cat breeding in the face of rising trafficking

With 82 million cats and 72 million dogs, and faced with the increase in trafficking, the European executive has seized this market valued at 1.3 billion euros per year.

The draft text put to the vote establishes minimum welfare criteria for dogs and cats in breeders, shelters and points of sale: food, space, cleanliness, prohibition of cruel practices, etc.

It also requires that, when a dog or cat is transferred, it be identified with a subcutaneous microchip - a requirement already in force in most Member States - and registered in a database that can be consulted throughout the EU. The aim is, in particular, to combat dog trafficking from European countries such as Romania and Bulgaria, which has been singled out by animal rights groups.

Mutilations (tail or ear docking, vocal cord removal, etc.) will be prohibited in almost all cases, as will electric, choke or spike collars.

Breeding animals to accentuate certain physical characteristics so excessively that the animals suffer (legs that are too short, noses that are too flat, etc.) must also be prohibited, as must the use of these animals for shows or competitions.

The text also prohibits inbreeding up to grandparent/grandchild crosses and between half-siblings, except in rare exceptions, to preserve local species with low genetic diversity.

But while this regulation appears to be highly consensual, the scope of its application is still under debate. Before the text was examined in plenary, the Parliament's Environment Committee attempted to make it more ambitious, without success. Meanwhile, the Agriculture Committee, more attentive to "excessive regulations," gained the upper hand.

"For the moment, 80% of breeders are not covered by the regulations," laments Green MEP Tilly Metz. Small breeders, with a maximum of four female dogs or three litters per year, are in fact exempt from some of the requirements.

Her group is considering abstaining if the text is not more ambitious, especially since it is being championed by Czech MP Veronika Vrecionova of the far-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group. On the other hand, the ECR is concerned about amendments tabled by the Greens...

"This text lays some interesting foundations, but it does not go to the bottom of things and does not attack the real causes of overpopulation and abandonment."

Animal rights activists regret other exemptions: for stray dogs and cats, not covered by mandatory microchipping, for police or military dogs, hunting or farming dogs... "There is a big hunting lobby on this text," observes Christophe Marie, the director of European affairs at the 30 Million Friends Foundation, citing as an example the ban on mutilations, which has been relaxed for hunting dogs.

Coercive collars (electric, etc.), although prohibited, may still be used for training police, military or customs dogs.

"This text lays some interesting foundations, but it doesn't go all the way and doesn't address the real causes of overpopulation (in breeding farms, editor's note) and abandonment," laments Christophe Marie. This official particularly regrets the weakness of regulation for online advertisements, which account for 60% of dog and cat sales, according to the Commission.

Only the person who posts an ad is responsible, not the platforms on which they appear. "That's really problematic," says Christophe Marie, because online sales "result in a very high number of abandonments."