Worries continue for large pig facility in Germany
The construction of a pig facility for about 67,000 breeding and finishing animals in Northern Germany might end up in a court trial, the German agricultural magazine Top Agrar reports.
The plans for the construction, near the North Brandenburg town of Hassleben, led to protests last week in the city of Potsdam, close to the German capital of Berlin. The German animal welfare organisation had teamed up with the Brandenburg animal welfare organisation to announce the citizen initiative ‘KontraIndustrieschwein’ – roughly translated as ‘against industry pigs’.
The animal welfare activists have been fighting against the construction for five years now and they are quoted to be running out of patience.
Worries
Left wing member of parliament Dr Kirsten Tackmann shares the worries. She was quoted to fear that by building very large livestock complexes, Eastern Germany could become the playing field for agricultural gamblers with short-term profits. The German authorities should pay attention to these worries, she added.
In reply, Prof Matthias Freude, president of the environmental agency of Brandenburg (LUA), was quoted to say that the application for construction seemed to contain few errors. The application will need to comply with federal emission laws. In comparison to the original application of 2004, the number of pigs has already been decreased.
Related websites
• Top Agrar (in German)
• State Environmental Agency Brandenburg (LUA)©
• KontraIndustrieschwein (in German)©
©
Join 18,000+ subscribers
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated about all the need-to-know content in the pigsector, three times a week.
