Secretary of State of Economic Affairs Dijksma will be in Copenhagen on 29 and 30 April 2015 to argue in favour of improving pig welfare in livestock farming. She will do so at the international summit ‘Improving pig welfare – what are the ways forward?’. During the summit the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark wish to encourage the other member states to follow in their footsteps by implementing better pig welfare safeguards.
Dijksma: ‘The Netherlands is a leader in livestock animal welfare. Piglets for the Dutch market are no longer castrated, for instance. Together with Germany and Denmark I wish to put livestock welfare on the table at a European level. It is important for all European nations to display unity from a competitive perspective and to level the playing field.’
Secretary of State Dijksma will, among other things, draw attention to transport shortening and calls for a reduction in interventions in pigs such as castration and tail docking. Not castrating pigs can lead to the development of boar taint. The Netherlands is leading the charge to solve this issue. Recognition of this approach is necessary in order to strongly reduce castration.
International animal welfare summit
Secretary of State Dijksma’s colleagues Schmidt from Germany, Bucht from Sweden and Jørgensen from Denmark will also be attending the summit to permanently improve pig welfare in Europe. The Copenhagen conference is the follow-up to the international animal welfare summit held in the Netherlands in 2014. Dijksma and her colleagues signed a declaration endorsing cooperation aimed at increased animal welfare in Europe after the latter summit.