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Abstract
This paper aims at assessing the status of animal welfare in Austria and Germany as it is regulated by private, national, and European animal welfare legislation. In order to achieve this, an inventory of existing private and state-driven animal welfare certification schemes that are relevant for fattening pigs in Austria and Germany is done, and the overlap between legislative and private certification requirements for animal welfare analyzed. The paper's methodological contribution lies in the development of an assessment approach based on the Austrian “Animal Needs Index” that allows the evaluation of minimum farm animal welfare standards without expensive and time-consuming on-farm measures. The comparison of legislative and private certification scheme pig standards indicate slight differences between the minimum animal welfare obligations of certification schemes existent in Austria and Germany whereas the reviewed Austrian scheme obligations show in general more diversification from the evaluated legislative standards.
Acknowledgements
The present study is part of the CCAT project, EU 6th Framework Program, Priority 8.1 (European Commission, DG RTD, contract no. 44423-CCAT). Its content does not represent the official position of the European Commission and is entirely under the responsibility of the authors.
Notes
1. Animal-referenced parameters refer e.g. to the animal's body condition, health aspects, injuries, behavior, and so on.
2. From now on, the term ANI always refers to the most recent version of the indicator framework, i.e. the ANI 35L.
3. Since 1995 the ANI is used as the official evaluation system for the assessment of housing conditions of organic cattle farms in Austria.
4. The ANI assessment scale T5d (category 5 assessment scaled) refers to the condition of skin and the presence of ectoparasites.
5. Council Directive 91/630/EEC of 19 November 1991 laying down minimum standards for the protection of pigs (European Council, Citation1991).
6. Council Directive 98/58/EC of 20 July 1998 concerning the protection of animals kept for farming purposes (European Council, Citation1998).
7. Council Directive 91/630/EEC of 19 November 1991 laying down minimum standards for the protection of pigs and Council Directive 98/58/EC of 20 July 1998 concerning the protection of animals kept for farming purposes.
8. Imposed by CitationEU Commission Regulation (EC) No. 889/2008 of 5 September 2008 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No. 834/2007 on organic production and labeling of organic products with regard to organic production, labeling, and control.
9. The ANI assessment scale T4d (category 4 assessment scale d) refers to the availability of showers.
10. The ANI assessment scale T3a (category 3 assessment scale a) refers to the number of available floor types.
11. The ANI assessment scale T5e (category 5 assessment scale e) refers to the condition of claws.