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Brigitte Bardot—who celebrated her 85th birthday on 28 September—has received the GAIA Lifetime Achievement Award. The award itself reveals why she is the one to receive it: two open hands lifting up seven animals, including a horse, lamb, and seal. Plus the inscription: ‘And God created the advocate for animals rights’, as a symbol of her tremendous efforts and activities.
In close collaboration with GAIA, Continental Foods - the Belgian leader in agri-food - commits to no longer sourcing chickens bred to grow extremely quickly in Belgium, Finland, France, Germany and Sweden by 2026.
On 25 July, GAIA launched its summer campaign in Brussels, attended by an outstanding ambassador: the Belgian sprinter Kevin Borlée. Hundreds of ‘Cage Fighters’ have been imprisoned in 12 Belgian cities.
Wallonia and Flanders both decided to ban slaughtering without stunning within their own regions. Brussels Region alone has not yet reached a decision on the subject. 17 associations demand a ban in an open letter to the Government and Brussels Parliament.
On 18 July, Brussels-Capital Region got a new government. Good news: responsibility for animal welfare now comes within the remit of a Minister, Bernard Clerfayt (DéFI) instead of a Secretary of State (Bianca Debaets, CD&V in the previous legislature).
On the 10th of July, Cruelty Free Europe was launched in Brussels. This new coalition, represented in Belgium by GAIA, aims to end animal testing in Europe.
KFC decided, in close co-operation with GAIA, to raise the welfare standards of its chickens. The chain is promising to end the use of rapid-growth breeds of chicken for its restaurants in Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Sweden, Netherlands and United Kingdom, by 2026.
The road American horsemeat follows to get to our country is still strewn with an enormous amount of abuse, neglect, and fraud. This has been shown by new investigation carried out in Uruguay, Argentina, and Canada by the Tierschutzbund Zurich and Animal Welfare Foundation, both partner organisations of GAIA.
Based on its close cooperation with GAIA, the meat processing company Aoste has decided to gradually switch to the 1-star ‘Beter Leven Keurmerk’ (Better Life Label) for all its poultry products.
Global Action in the Interest of Animals (GAIA) applauds yesterdays unanimous decision by the Flemish parliament to ban fur farming and force feeding for fois gras production.
On 25 April 2019, the VAT reduction was approved by the Chamber.
The Brussels-Capital Region approved the first reading of a draft proposal to ban breeding, selling and keeping hybrid cats and the ‘Fold’ cats.
On 3 April the Flemish Parliament unanimously approved the decree proposal that forbids the use of fireworks, crackers, carbide cannons and sky lanterns unless a municipal or city government has given express permission for their use.
Is it possible to produce real meat without slaughtering animals and as such without the mass killing of animals? That is precisely the point of ‘cell-based meat’ or ‘slaughter-free meat’, a technological revolution that GAIA is proposing by way of a new website: www.kweekvlees.be and www.viandecultivee.be.
Each year, about 1.6 million kangaroos are hunted and killed in particularly cruel conditions. This statistic makes the kangaroo the most hunted wild animal in the world. Unfortunately, Belgium is partly responsible for maintaining this commercial hunt, as it is the world's largest importer of kangaroo meat for human consumption.
On January 1, 2019, many things will change in terms of animal welfare.
The company made this decision in consultation with the animal rights organization GAIA. A first in the business world.
In Belgium, many puppies have been acquired from bad breeders. The young animals sold by these businesses are often sick, weak, unsocialized and have been separated prematurely from their mothers.
GAIA has launched a new campaign calling for a ban on surgical castration of piglets. It has been years that the political world and pig breeders’ organisations have been promising the end of this painful practice. It's time to evolve.
Across Europe, billions of animals are farmed in cages. The time has come to stand up and End the Cage Age.
GAIA welcomes the Parliament of Wallonia’s adoption this afternoon of the Walloon Code of Animal Welfare. The Animal Welfare Code is an initiative of Minister of Animal Welfare Carlo Di Antonio (cdH).
GAIA verlangt eine Kürzung der Mehrwertsteuer für die Sterilisierung von Katzen
"Finally! After more than 20 years of campaigning we've achieved our goal: GAIA's president Michel Vandenbosch is excited about the decision of the Flemish government to ban fur farming and force-feeding for the production of foie gras.
"It’s a good start and we’ve achieved one of our main goals as well, however a lot of work remains to be done"
Michel Vandenbosch: "Slaughter without stunning in temporary slaughterhouses was, is and will remain illegal"
GAIA welcomes several major advances for animal welfare in Wallonia, including a ban on battery caged hens – a first in Belgium!
"Supermarkets can stop this intolerable suffering"
A measure we have been urging for a long time, which will save thousands of cats from being abandoned in shelters
“Keep your promise to ban fur farming in Flanders"
“A significant and undeniable advance in animal welfare, without neglecting the festive spirit”
GAIA: ‘A first in Belgium, which brings hope for the tens of thousands of animals suffering in the laboratories of the Brussels region’
Watch our new TV spot
GAIA considers that it’s high time that animal welfare, the appreciation of their dignity and interests, fundamental values in Belgian society, be recognised by the country’s highest institutions.
GAIA presents Bianca Debaets with a chocolate cat in celebration of the new law
GAIA offers chocolate sheep: “The fruits of 22 years of campaigning”
1.069.715 signatures: GAIA has just reached this landmark figure in its joint European campaign to end the suffering of nearly one billion poultry and 37 million cattle, equines, goats and sheep that are transported alive within the EU, as well as to Turkey and the Middle East.
Since 1992, GAIA has been acting on behalf of animals and working tirelessly towards ever better protection for these living creatures, who can feel both pain and anguish.
Michel Vandenbosch, President of GAIA: “This is a major day for animal welfare and for GAIA
GAIA offers chocolate sheep to Walloon Animal Welfare Minister and Members of Parliament
GAIA: “An excellent measure to prevent the overpopulation of abandoned kittens in animal shelters and the proliferation of stray cats!”
Michel Vandenbosch: Ladies and gentlemen, GAIA says “Bravo” and “Thank you on behalf of the animals!”
"GAIA applauds this great advance in favour of the welfare of laying hens"
Too many unanswered questions, and the university fails to give adequate guarantees to prevent a repetition of the scenario
Michel Vandenbosch: "For GAIA, this is the result of 25 years of activism. Hundreds of thousands of sheep and cattle will finally escape the unnecessary and avoidable suffering of having their throats cut while fully conscious."
Actor Jean-Claude Van Damme - "the Muscles from Brussels" - and GAIA announce the start of a closer collaboration for animal welfare.
GAIA: "A very strong message against the force-feeding of birds in foie gras production”
Bob the Street Cat gives furry high five to GAIA’s campaign for cat neutering
Jean-Claude Van Damme sent us an inspiring and encouraging video with a touching message for all GAIA members and fans.
GAIA: “We would like to thank the Walloon Government for this much needed, unprecedented and virtually unique law in the world that will help to prevent overpopulation and abandonment”
“Brussels Animal Welfare Secretary of State Bianca Debaets needs to investigate the malpractices at the Animalarium of the VUB and suspend their licence to conduct animal experiments”
“It's about time the Flemish government follows suit and prohibits fur farming in Flanders”
You only want to wear labels who don’t use fur? You are so right! GAIA can help you find fashion that is guaranteed fur-free.
On the occasion of World Animal Day on October 4th, GAIA has launched the idea that the dignity and welfare of animals be enshrined in the Belgian Constitution, as a fundamental duty.
GAIA’s surprise action against slaughter without stunning at the so-called “modular” slaughterhouse in Brussels set up for the Feast of Sacrifice
GAIA filed a complaint to end the discrimination which grants criminal immunity for people of Muslim and Jewish faith to slaughter animals without stunning
"Pawtition" for a ban on experiments on dogs and cats
Mit einer „Pattition“ vereint GAIA in ihrer Sommertournee Menschen und Haustiere im Kampf gegen Tierversuche in Laboratorien
"Pootitie/Pattition" at the heart of GAIA’s Summer Tour unites humans and their best friends against the use of dogs and cats as lab animals.
The Belgian subsidiaries of Weight Watchers and Aldi have recently expressed their desire to source eggs from alternative farming methods (open air or free range), and have committed to ban the use of battery-laid eggs from their products.
"The European Commission must act now by revising current regulations"
Veritable temple of fur in Belgium, Pelsland was declared bankrupt last month by the court of Antwerp.
Owner of fur farm in Langemark, West-Flanders, shuts down farm.
The famous philosopher visited GAIA on the occasion of our 24th birthday!
New campaign for the World Day of Laboratory Animals: our pets want a revolution!
From now on the Antwerp Zoo and Planckendael will apply a no kill policy regarding "surplus" animals.
"Stunning is the only way to minimize animal suffering"
Animal rights organisation GAIA has published the overwhelming findings of a recent investigation conducted in Argentina and Uruguay on the trade in horse meat for export to the EU and Belgium.
Against the suffering of ducks and geese for the production of foie gras
A Christmas ad urging the public not to eat foie gras
New report on the welfare of ducks in foie gras production
New images of animal suffering on Flemish fur farms
For World Animal Day, opt for hen-friendly mayonnaise!
The Flemish Court of First Instance in Brussels upheld the decision by the Flemish Minister for Animal Welfare, Ben Weyts, to ban slaughter without prior stunning on temporary sites as required by EU law.
GAIA-activist protests as crocodile against animals suffering for Hermès
Every year thousands of animals undergo painful tests in European labs for the development of … cleaning products. GAIA wants this to be prohibited.
Save animals from laboratories
Major Belgian TV channels are broadcasting a new GAIA advert over the next two weeks denouncing the atrocious treatment Argentinean horses are subjected to before ending up on the plates of Belgian consumers.
Thanks to the staunch support of our members, GAIA's on-going campaign against battery cages for hens won a number of new victories in recent months, thereby sparing thousands of laying hens the misery of life in battery cages.
The answer’s right under our noses
*On April 17th, we learned that the Planckendael zoo, one of Belgium’s largest zoos, had killed three young, healthy animals (an oryx and two bison) and used them as food for the zoo’s resident carnivores. Planckendael called it “euthanasia.”
New pan-European campaign
Wallonia’s Minister of Animal Welfare, Carlo di Antonio, will require as of 2017 that all cats in Wallonia must be sterilised or castrated. The Brussels-Capital Region will follow suit, according to Vice-Minister for Animal Welfare, Bianca Debaets.
GAIA offers chocolate to celebrate the new decree
GAIA blocks an authorization issued by Province of East Flanders
GAIA welcomes the adoption on first reading yesterday by the Council of Ministers of the Brussels-Capital Region of a proposal to ban fur farms.
Today, the Walloon government adopted at first reading a draft decree prepared by the animal welfare Minister, Carlo Di Antonio to ban fur farming in Wallonia, one of the three federal regions in Belgium, as of 1st January 2015.
