DEFRA is now preparing to shelve the forthcoming ban on beak
trimming indefinitely, claims
Compassion in World
Farming.
The ban is due to come into force in just over a year's time, on
1 January 2011, but back in September the Farm Animal Welfare
Council (FAWC) recommended that this date should be put
back.
In a letter to minister Jim Fitzpatrick in
September, FAWC admitted that a ban on beak trimming would merely
replace one welfare problem with another.
Now Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) maintains that DEFRA is
ready to make a formal decision to delay the ban, and is calling on
ministers to leave it in place. It claims the correct way to avoid
feather pecking in layers is to "keep them in good conditions and
select for birds that are less prone".
Chief policy adviser Peter Stevenson said: "The ban gave
producers a very generous eight-year phase-out period. Egg
producers have been slow to adapt, and it is unacceptable to now
say they need more time."
Back in September, FAWC advised defra that the ban "should be
deferred until it can be demonstrated reliably, under commercial
conditions, that laying hens can be managed without beak trimming
without a greater risk to their welfare than that caused by beak
trimming itself".
It still insisted that every effort should be made to end the
routine beak trimming of layers as soon as possible. But in the
interim, there would still be a need for beak trimming, with
conditions.
"We recommend that infra-red beak treatment should be the only
method used routinely from a set date, such as January 2011."
FAWC lamented the lack of progress in the seven years since the
ban was announced.
"More effort should have been made by the industry to prepare
for the ban by the development of new strains of hens or husbandry
systems, for example. In the absence of alternative control
measures, the introduction of a ban on beak trimming will affect
the welfare of hens considerably.
Many farms may simply fail to comply with the ban, while those
that do may experience major problems with feather pecking and
cannibalism."