News
Press release of the German Down and Feather Association (VDFI) and statement on the publication “plucking and gavage – poultry and feathers made in Hungary“ issued by the animal rights group “Vier Pfoten“ (four paws) on the internet and on the coverage “Gänsehölle“ (geese hell) in the German newspaper “Bild am Sonntag” published on 2nd November 2008
The VDFI has taken note of the afore-mentioned publications and uses
them as an opportunity to explain the attitude of the VDFI towards the
issue. We are sincerely interested in eliminating the nuisances as
regards harvesting of geese down and feathers as depicted there. The
conditions described there would violate the European Convention for
the Protection of Animals kept for Farming Purposes of 7th February
2000. Furthermore, according to our state of knowledge the strictly
criticized behaviour constitutes an offence in accordance with
Hungarian penal law. According to this law, cruelty to animals will be
punished by imprisonment up to a period of 2 years. Besides, according
to the Hungarian Animal Protection Act, cruelty to animals might also
be fined.
In this field, our association prepared a standard on live-plucking and
keeping conditions of geese kept for plucking purposes, in cooperation
with representatives of the German and the Hungarian government and
leading scientists. This standard was included in the afore-mentioned
European Convention for the Protection of Animals. In accordance with
the standard, only plucking of mature geese down and feathers is
permitted which is performed considering the natural moulting process.
In Germany, nowadays processing of live-plucked filling material only
plays a minor role. The larger part of feathers and down imported to
Germany is gained after the animals were slaughtered.
However, already existing regulations on animal welfare are only
useful, if everyone detecting such nuisance will report it to the
police so that the offenders are prosecuted. In the present case, we
therefore consider to make a complaint to the authorities in charge in
Hungary. In this regard we can fall back on contacts on the spot.
To ensure efficient prosecution of the offenders in Hungary, we are
reliant upon further information to solve the issue. Therefore we asked
both the German newspaper “Bild“ and the animal rights group “Vier
Pfoten“ to forward us the necessary data so that we can substantiate
the complaint.
We are interested in tight cooperation with all animal welfare
organizations in order to do something, set an example and take legal
action as well. After all, we are all keen on seeing to it that the
offenders will be held liable and legally punished.
We cannot confirm the figure, published by the newspaper “Bild“, that
80% of feathers and down sold in Germany derive from improper keeping
of animals in Hungary. The figure does not originate from the official
numerical data available at the Federal Statistical Office in Germany
either. From January to December 2007, all in all approx. 10.000 tons
of feathers and down from all over the world were imported to Germany.
Only approx. 1.500 tons originated from Hungary. By our count, the
maximum percentage of feathers and down deriving from live-plucked
animals amounts to 1-2%. As we said above, in Germany, the demand for
live-plucked material has drastically decreased in recent years.
There is one thing you must not forget: In Hungary, not all the geese
farms keep the animals improperly. We appeal to all parties involved to
cooperate, so that we can convict and punish the rogue farms which are
unfortunately existent anywhere you are.
If you have further questions regarding the subject “feather harvesting”, please do not hesitate to contact:
VDFI
Association of the German Down and Feather Industry
Thomas-Mann-Straße 9a
D-55122 Mainz
phone.: +49 6131 37 50 70
fax: +49 6131 37 50 815
e-mail: info@vdfi.de
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Beachten Sie bitte auch die Veröffentlichungen zum Thema auf der Website des EDFA (Presseerklärung/ Statement bzw. die "häufig gestellten Fragen (FAQ)". |