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88% of house cats in Belgium are sterilised. This is shown by an Ipsos survey carried out for GAIA[1]. “Encouraging figures”, says GAIA director Ann De Greef. “But we mustn’t forget that despite the legal obligation, in Flanders about 160,775 cats still haven’t been sterilised/castrated, in Brussels 302.441 and in Wallonia 1,321,116.
Since yesterday, the 18th of May, large-format posters were put up alongside Flemish roads. The slogan “En wanneer mogen zij uit hun kot?” (And when will the lockdown end for them?) aims to remind Ben Weyts (N-VA), the Flemish Minister of Animal Welfare, of his promise to impose a ban on cages for laying hens.
In October 2019, GAIA field researchers examined the situation at three turkey farms in West Flanders. What they found were distressing situations in an unregulated sector: thousands of turkeys crammed into tight spaces, severely weakened, dying and injured animals, covered in all manner of wounds, turkeys with severely damaged feathers, animals with dead skin on their backs and flanks, carcasses in an advanced state of decomposition, poultry house floors covered with faeces, turkeys smeared with faeces, etc.
In an open letter to Carrefour Belgium, Carrefour France, Cora and Auchan, Brigitte Bardot condemns the sale of kangaroo meat in their stores. By doing so, the world-renowned actress has aligned herself with GAIA’s ‘Save the kangaroo’ campaign.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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 verlangt eine Kürzung der Mehrwertsteuer für die Sterilisierung von Katzen
“Keep your promise to ban fur farming in Flanders"
“A significant and undeniable advance in animal welfare, without neglecting the festive spirit”
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.
Bob the Street Cat gives furry high five to GAIA’s campaign for cat neutering
