I got a reply and he had had over 4,000 emails about that subject:
Dear constituent,
Thank you for your email concerning today’s vote on Minimum Standards for the Protection of Farm Rabbits. Please accept my sincere apologies for the impersonal address of this email - in the past few days alone I have received over 4,000 emails on this issue.
I completely agree with you that the poor standards for rabbit farming are nothing short of abhorrent. Rabbits are the second most farmed species in the EU with over 340 million being slaughtered annually. The vast majority of them are kept in barren wire cages where their natural behaviour is severely restricted.
These conditions neglect Council Directive 98/58 on the protection of animals kept for farming purposes which calls on all owners and keepers of animals 'to take all reasonable steps to ensure the welfare of animals under their care and to ensure that those animals are not caused any unnecessary pain, suffering or injury'.
Harmonised minimum standards for rabbit welfare would help to combat animal suffering and that’s why I voted in favour of this report which was successfully passed by 410 votes in favour with 205 MEPs voting against and 59 abstaining.
Many scientists have stressed that the cage system should be urgently replaced by one which allows for the natural needs of rabbits to be better taken into account. As Greens, we too support replacing the outdated battery cages with the 'park' system.
The current system leads to the spread of disease and the subsequent overuse of antibiotics. Greens have always opposed factory farming and we will continue working for the highest possible standards of animal welfare - which is one of my main priorities as your MEP.
We also support species-specific legislation, as recommended by the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe (FVE), to address the serious welfare implications of current production methods. I therefore co-sponsored an amendment to this report calling for concrete legislation that would ban the use of cages and am delighted that this passed by 356 votes in favour.
Today’s positive outcome serves to highlight the key role the EU membership has played and continues to play in raising the welfare of millions of farm animals in Britain and across the EU. Not least because animal advocates across the UK have done an excellent job of putting pressure on their MEPs to support this report.
However, we must continue lobbying the UK government to ensure the current legal protections, for all species, offered by European Union membership are maintained and strengthened. I believe the closer the relationship the UK maintains with the EU - retaining animal welfare and wildlife protections through single market membership - the better the outcome for British animals.
If you are interested in finding out more about my work on animal rights, please do have a look on my website:
http://www.keithtaylormep.org.uk/category/animal-rights/. I also release a regular newsletter on animal welfare called ‘Making Tracks’, alongside my fellow UK Green MEPs, Jean Lambert and Molly Scott Cato, so do let me know if you would like to sign-up to it.
Thank you again for your email, Please do not hesitate to get back in touch if you have any further concerns or questions at EU level.
With best wishes,
Keith Taylor
Green Party MEP for South East England
The European Parliament
Rue Wiertz
1047 Brussels, Belgium