MILAN—More than 62,000 certified signatures in support of a popular legislative initiative bill calling for a nationwide ban on the use of cages for all animals farmed for food have been officially submitted to the Italian Senate. The initiative, launched in March by animal protection organisation Essere Animali, comfortably exceeded the threshold required under Italian law to submit the bill to Parliament, in just six months.
The signatures were presented together with the other organizations behind the “Gabbie Vuote” (Empty Cages) campaign, including Animal Equality, Animal Law Italia, CIWF Italia, Enpa, Humane World for Animals Italy, LAV, LNDC, OIPA and The Good Lobby. The bill was formally presented during the Senate plenary sitting of 22 September. It now awaits referral to the relevant committee, which will initiate its legislative examination.
The result comes after months of campaigning, during which the results from two investigations were published. The first, released in March, documented dead animals, irregular killings and cruelty at a rabbit farm in Veneto where 30,000 rabbits were kept in small, wire mesh cages. Following the investigation, two parliamentary questions were submitted calling for a ban on the use of cages on Italian animal farms. The second investigation, published in two parts between May and June, focused on a large pig farm in Veneto that supplies the Protected Designation of Origin production chain and was brought to wider public attention with the support of author and writer Selvaggia Lucarelli.
Since March 12, when the bill was officially filed with the Supreme Court of Cassation together with The Good Lobby, Olympic athlete Riccardo Bugari and comic artist Zuzu, the initiative has continued to attract support from numerous public figures, including chef Chiara Pavan, Italian true-crime podcaster Elisa True Crime, and dozens of creators and science communicators who encouraged their followers to support the bill.
“Tens of thousands of citizens are calling loudly for a law that would permanently ban cage farming. The result is reflected in the signatures we have submitted. Now it is time for Parliament to turn these signatures into concrete action. We will continue to put pressure on decision-makers and we will not stop until we have a law,” the “Gabbie Vuote” coalition said.
“Between 2018 and 2020, 1.4 million people signed the European Citizens’ Initiative to End the Cage Age, calling for a ban on the use of cages in animal farming. Their demands have been betrayed by the European institutions, which have still not set out a clear, public and transparent process to ban this cruel practice across the EU,” said Simone Montuschi, president of Essere Animali, the organisation behind the campaign. “In the meantime, Italy must not simply wait; it has already shown that it can lead the way on issues that are fundamental to animal welfare, such as the ban on fur farming and phasing out the killing of male chicks.”
In Italy, it is estimated that more than 17 million hens used for egg production, 13 million rabbits, almost 600,000 mother pigs, 1.5 million calves and 8 million quails are kept in cages each year, amounting to more than 40 million animals in total. The cage confinement of farmed animals is widely recognised as a major animal welfare concern. Confined to restricted spaces, animals are unable to express essential natural behaviours such as moving freely, nesting, digging or socialising appropriately. This restriction causes chronic stress and frustration and can also lead to physical problems, including injuries and increased bone fragility—all phenomena extensively documented in the scientific opinions of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
Across the rest of Europe, several countries have already committed to banning the use of cages in animal farming. Regarding mother pigs, a ban is already in place in Sweden, with Denmark, Austria, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands to follow shortly. These countries have already legislated accordingly and are expected to complete the transition by 2035 to 2040. In the case of hens used for egg production, conventional cages have already been banned under EU legislation since 2012. Austria and Luxembourg have also introduced bans on enriched cages. Germany will follow, with a transition period running from 2026 to 2029, while the Czech Republic will ban them from 2027 onwards. In France, the construction of new animal farms using cages has been banned since 2018.