This morning, fur farmers and farmers from “Agrounia” protested the “Five for Animals” bill in front of the headquarters of the Law and Justice party and later in from of the Sejm building. The protesting crowds sympathized with the position of the Minister of Agriculture Jan Krzysztof Ardanowski, who criticizes the law which introduces more protection for animals and bans fur farming in the country.
“Animal farms have been our business for years. We put much effort into making sure that the farms meet quality standards. We are the leaders of meat export to the west. They could destroy years of hard work, my father’s legacy. They are taking away our sales market. Almost 40% of the meat we sell is from ritual slaughter. Cattle are herd animals, they get most stressed when they are being moved. If the bill comes into force, all our animals will have to be moved to Germany and other countries and slaughtered there anyway. So it will only bring more suffering to the animals”, said one of the protesters.
“Those who wrote this bill know not the smell of earth nor the smell of animals… They only criticise it and say that we do not respect the animals and treat them badly. Ma’am, each and every farmer takes good care of their animals. They make sure they have good food and conditions. We have to do that in order to fight against aggressive competitors. Mr Kaczynski should deal with them, to this day supermarket chains don’t have to pay taxes. Polish farmers have to pay even before they start running their farms”, followed another protesting farmer.
Meanwhile, most commentators in Poland praise the bill proposed by the leader of the ruling party, especially the part banning fur farming, which had already been banned in most of the European countries years if not decades ago.