Frogs being farmed for food have no welfare rights under European law, the European Commission has said.
Its statement on the issue came after MEPs raised concerns regarding how the animals are treated in other countries, including Turkey, Indonesia and Vietnam, where they claimed many frogs farmed for their meat have their legs amputated with scissors while they are still alive.
Judging this a “significant animal welfare issue”, Identity and Democracy Group (ID) MEPs Annika Bruna and Eric Minardi asked the EC whether it plans to ban frog-product imports originating outside of the European Union.
Responding to the two politicians, the EC said there were no plans to implement any such ban and that farmed frogs have no welfare rights in the EU at all.
“The EU legislation on animal welfare lays down general provisions to protect animals kept on farms. However, it does not cover amphibians,” European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides said in a written response.
As cruelty to frogs was not regarded as illegal within the EU, Kyriakides added that there was no legal justification for any sort of frog import ban on foreign nations over mistreatment of the animals.
Kyriakides went on to say that EU animal cruelty protections could, in theory, be extended to frogs sometime in the future but noted that the EC had no current plans to do so.
While not exactly good news for the likes of TV’s Kermit the Frog, this is far from the first time the EC has washed its hands of issues to do with animal welfare.
Quizzed on legal reforms passed in Spain that some feared could make animal rape legal back in May, the Commission said that there were no EU laws preventing the sexual abuse or rape of animals.
“Deeply regrettable as they are, such [sex] acts as described remain solely under the competence of the Member States, as they cannot be said to affect the functioning of the internal market and therefore interfere with EU competences,” Eurocrats said in response to one question from an MEP.
The EC went on to say that, as much as it does not condone the raping of animals, it had to abide by the limits to its powers as set out by EU treaties, leaving Commissioners unable to act.
