We’re Making History for Animals on Farms – 1 Million Signatures to #EndTheCageAge
A massive 1 million EU citizens have now signed the #EndTheCageAge European Citizens Initiative (ECI), making it the biggest-ever political push for animal welfare on farms.
PETA and over 170 other animal rights, animal-welfare and environmental organisations launched the ECI to help the more than 300 million pigs, chickens, rabbits, ducks, and quails imprisoned in cages and other confinement systems across the EU. Most enclosures are barren and cramped, denying the animals the opportunity to move freely. Such confinement is cruel and completely unnecessary. If successful, the ECI will bring about a seismic shift in our food and farming system, with the potential to benefit hundreds of millions of farmed animals in Europe each year by sparing them a life of suffering in a cage or a pen. This would be a monumental step on the path towards ending factory farming.
For animals suffering in confinement systems, your voice is more critical today than ever before. Our ECI will be put through a strict checking procedure in which the EU government will verify that each signature is from a real person. Not all signatures may be considered valid, so we need to hit at least 1.3 million to be on the safe side. We have three months left to collect signatures.
We need your help to ensure that the ECI is successful – so that animals have a voice at the EU level. If you are an EU citizen and haven’t already signed the ECI, please add your signature now. And please share it with your friends and family who haven’t signed yet.
A unique tool for change, an ECI is a powerful initiative to influence lawmakers in Europe. That means it requires more personal data than a regular petition. Each EU member state has set its own rules for collecting signatures – some require details such as a passport or ID number. The website has been certified according to EU regulations to ensure that personal data are stored securely, are used only for validating your ECI signature, and will be deleted after signatures have been counted.
Because of the upcoming Brexit deadline, signatures from UK citizens may not be valid at the #EndTheCageAge ECI end date. UK-based supporters can help animals on farms here.
