It is one of the rarities that animal welfare comes up as a debate in national news. What is not so rare is what SP says about Norway’s animal welfare in the media.
In Dagsnytt 18 Tuesday of last week discussed Center Youth with Unge Venstre. The rhetoric and perception of reality from Sp does not connect with the reality that animals in agriculture experience today, nor with recent research.
Hasn’t the Center youth caught on that we not have the world’s best animal welfare? Don’t they read the reports to the Norwegian Food Safety Authoritywho found over 50% deviations from the already weak animal welfare laws on their inspections of Norwegian farms? Or the report from the National Audit Officewhich slaughters the Norwegian Food Safety Authority’s inability to do the job they are required to do.
Center youth do not know that 99% of all pigs in this country only get to see daylight when they are on their way to the slaughterhouse? Not to mention the transport to the slaughterhousewhich in itself is highly questionable and far from “the world’s best animal welfare”.
Hasn’t Sp not realized that we gas kills pigs with CO2 gas in a concentration of around 90%? It is “desirable” that they be gassed to death, but technically they are gassed and then their throats are cut. Or that piglets are beaten to death against the wall?
Could it be a good idea for the Youth Center to look through the Brennpunkt programme? “Secrets of the pig industry”?
It is not agriculture or farmers that are necessarily distrusted, but the failed agricultural and animal welfare policy of which the Center Party has been a part.
What about cows that still standing in narrow stalls, and bulls that do not have a right to go outside? What about the calf being brutally removed from the cow right after birth?
Or that over 70–80% of all sheep and lambs grazing in Norway die from injuries, drowning, tick disease and accidents as a result of lack of supervision – not of predators (2016)? What about the stress itself the sheep herding is for the animals?
How can they sit there and claim that this is good animal welfare?
The youth center disagrees with the entire premise that Unge Venstre advocates: Better animal welfare. They believe that the Young Left has distrusted agriculture and farmers, and that we therefore do not need better animal welfare.
Now it is not agriculture or farmers that are necessarily distrusted, but the failed agricultural and animal welfare policy of which the Center Party has been a part.
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This policy has led to more centralisation, more industrialization and the constant closure of farms. The nation and NRK writes, among other things, that 6,000 farms have been closed in the last decade.
It is this policy that leads to pigs living in penury concrete bins without a base; with only one square meter per 100 kilos of heavy animal. This unworthy politics makes more and more farmers struggling mentally due to the tremendous pressure on increased production and profits. The pressure created by the government with the Center Party’s agriculture minister at the helm.
It is outdated and ignorant to think that better animal welfare and predictability in agriculture cannot go hand in hand.
Furthermore, the Youth Center says that Unge Venstre, with its proposal for better animal welfare, is on its side national meetingwill provide more unpredictability in agriculture.
Where do they get this claim from? Who says good animal welfare leads to unpredictability? It is as if the party does not understand what they are saying themselves, when they repeatedly use direct misinformation about agriculture and animal welfare.
The young people in the center have probably not caught the news that came a couple of years ago where a dairy farmer let cow and calf be together. It resulted in more and better milk and many farmers, inland and abroad, were inspired. This, the Centerungdommen believes, is not possible.
How far from reality can you really be, the Center Party?
Several countries in Europe are already far ahead of Norway in new and improved animal welfare.
It is outdated and ignorant to think that animal welfare and predictability cannot go hand in hand. You just need to think a little differently. Sp does not show the will to do so, as we hear during the debate. We recommend the Senterungdommen to read up on research carried out in Norway and abroad, and not least to check out UiO and NMBU.
Several countries in Europe is already far ahead of Norway in new and improved animal welfare. It in no way goes beyond predictability, quite the opposite. In another survey on good animal welfare, Norway was not even included, when we lack basic laws and regulations that protect animals.
How is it possible, then, that the Center Party – again – runs away with myths that Norway has “the world’s best animal welfare”?
We agree with Unge Venstre on all the points that were raised on Dagsnytt 18, and we cheer for everyone who wants to improve animal welfare in this country. It is high time.
Farmer welfare and animal welfare are linked and need restructuring and a big boost.
The Green Party wants more small and medium-sized farms where it is easier to run good animal welfare. Less centralization and less industrialization will provide better living conditions for both the farmer and the animals.
We want to give animals more space and the right to develop according to their species-specific needs. Enshrining in the Constitution the intrinsic value of animals, because they are sentient beings, and we will of course let calves and cows live together.
These are just some of the many welfare promises for animals MDG will front in its new party programme. In this way, we not only improve the living conditions of animals, but also the working conditions of farmers. Farmer welfare and animal welfare are linked and needs a change and a big boost.
Let’s not wait until the 2025 election, let’s do something now – change policy today. And let’s do it from a knowledge-based standpoint.