Petition letter to end animal cruelty in Romania!

TO

The President of the European Council

AND

The European Parliament - the Eurogroup for Animal Welfare

We, the undersigned, kindly ask you to consider the following:

I. Given the Universal Declaration of Animal Rights proclaimed in Paris on the 15th of October 1978 at the UNESCO headquarters, and in particular the following provisions:

Article 3

1. "Animals must not be subjected to bad treatments or to cruel acts."

2. "If it is necessary to kill an animal, it must be instantaneous, painless and cause no apprehension."

Article 5

1. "Any animal which is dependent on man has the right to proper maintenance and care."

2. "It must under no circumstances be abandoned or killed unjustifiably."

3. "All forms of breeding and uses of the animal must respect the physiology and behaviour specific to the species."

Article 6

1. "Experiments on animals entailing physical or psychological suffering violate the rights of animals."

Article 7

"Any act unnecessarily involving the death of an animal, and any decision leading to such an act, constitute a crime against life."

Article 9

1. "The specific legal status of animals and their rights must be recognised by law."

2. "The protection and safety of animals must be represented at the level of Governmental organizations."

II. Given that the countries of the European Union became aware of the need to establish animal protection regulations as early as 20 years ago, through the Council Directive of 24 November 1986 on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States regarding the protection of animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes.

III. Given the provisions of the Protocol of Protection and Welfare to Animals, annexed to the Amsterdam Treaty of June 16th 1997, and taking into account the fact that none of the cases of animal cruelty or abuse reported in Romania is justifiable as part of "religious rites, cultural traditions and regional heritage";

IV. Given that through article III-121 of the European Union Constitution animals are granted the right to welfare and recognized as "sentient beings", so that Member States should take account of animals as sentient beings in jurisdiction, in formulating legal regulations and in political programmes;

V. Given that all the EU's welfare legislation is legally binding upon Member States and Romania is one of these States;

VI. Given that the Romanian Parliament was submitted a proposal of law for establishing a system of animal protection and an authority functioning as Animal Police; given that the Romanian Parliament has postponed the voting of this law several times to the date of this petition;

VII. Given that thousands of people from throughout the world find that the treatment of animals in Romania is completely barbaric and absolutely unacceptable, and thus endorse this petition to put an end to it;

Taking into account all the above, we kindly ask of you to take steps and pressure the Romanian government, by all available means, to pass and enforce animal protection laws establishing the following:

• Public and legal recognition of the animal rights;
• Setting up of an authority operating as Animal Police, with full rights as concerns identifying and taking legal steps against all animal abusers, as well as intervening to stop and prevent animal cruelty, neglect, and abuse;
• Including the acts of cruelty and abuse against animals in the Criminal Code, so that people who do such acts may be punished through imprisoning and other similar penalties, as under current laws they only get a fine, which has proved to be a weak motivation against doing the same things again.

Please, use all your influence and power to help Romania become a country where animal welfare is respected and help Romanians become the educated and considerate citizens of the European Union that we all want to be.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter,

The Undersigned.


Please sign this petition here.