- Austria banned battery chicken farming yesterday in an
animals rights act which also bars wild animals from circuses, forbids
the chaining of dogs, and guarantees cattle at least 90 days unfettered
movement a year.
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- All four parties in parliament approved the law unanimously
- a highly unusual event - although the Social Democratic and Greens opposition
had demanded even tougher regulations.
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- The law begins to take effect next January but will not
be fully implemented until 2020, by when only free-range chickens may be
raised in Austria, although imports of battery fowl are not prohibited.
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- "A day of joy," the Social Democrats' animal
rights expert, Ulli Sima, said.
-
- The Christian Democrat chancellor, Wolfgang Sch¸ssel,
said he would push for the rest of Europe to follow Austria's lead.
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- Farmers, bitterly opposed to the act, are seeking compensation
for those rearing chickens.
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004 http://www.guardian.co.uk/animalrights/story/0,11917,1226441,00.html
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