This week, Green Party MEP Tilly Metz, president of the European Parliament’s Animal Welfare and Conservation Intergroup, expressed her support for a possible ban on live exports in Colombia.
Through a message published on social media, the Luxembourg MEP expressed great enthusiasm for the Bill currently being discussed in the Colombian Congress. MEP Metz was emphatic about the need for both Colombia and the European Union to vote in favour of the ban on the export of live animals.
The European Union could be responsible for up to 80% of the world trade in live farm animals, with Spain being the main exporter of sheep to the Middle East and North Africa.
However, some countries have started making progress towards the walfare of farmed animals, such as Luxembourg, which earlier this year banned the practice, as well as New Zealand, which will ban live animal exports from April 2023. The Netherlands, will not approve exports to non-EU countries when animal welfare cannot be guaranteed and some German federal states such as Hessen, Bavaria, Brandenburg, Saxony and Lower Saxony, have also been adhering to the initiative.
If the Bill that progressively prohibits the maritime export of live animals for consumption purposes, led by animal rights senator Andrea Padilla, is approved, Colombia would join these countries and position itself as a leader in animal welfare in the region.
SOS Animals Colombia joins the call of MEP Tilly Metz and invites the Colombian congressmen and women and the national government to support the prohibition of this cruel and unnecessary practice in Colombia.
Learn more about the SOS Animals Colombia campaign here.
