Gassing of geese in Zeeland province in the Netherlands

Subject: Gassing of geese in Zeeland province in the Netherlands

For five years, between 15 May and 1 August, Zeeland province plans to carry out large-scale gassing of geese at and around Natura 2000 sites. The geese are then moulting and – like their chicks – are unable to fly.

According to the European Birds Directive, EU countries must ensure that bird species are not disturbed or hunted while young birds have not yet left the nest and during the different stages of the breeding period. Greylag geese lay eggs from late February into May. The young are fledged after 45 to 60 days and are nestlings. Their family group remains intact until winter.

1. Does the Commission agree that gassing healthy geese is unacceptable and causes great animal suffering and how is this reconcilable with Member States’ obligation, as laid down in the Treaty, to pay full regard to the welfare of animals as sentient beings?

2. How is the gassing of geese at Natura 2000 sites, at a time when geese are (to some extent) still brooding and their young have not yet left the nest, reconcilable with the safeguards and objectives set out in the EU Birds Directive and the EU Habitats Directive?

3. What action is the Commission taking and planning to prevent, as appears to be the case in this instance, improper use of derogations under the Birds Directive?

Submitted:10.4.2024

Answer given by Mr Sinkevičius on behalf of the European Commission (19 June 2024)

1. EU policies must take account of animal welfare at both national and EU leve l (1). Whereas the EU has adopted animal welfare legislation during slaughter (2) and for animals kept for farming purposes (3), it has no competence to legislate on the welfare of non-domestic greylag geese living in the wild (Anser anser).

2. The greylag goose falls under the scope of the Birds Directive (4) and according to Article 7 cannot be hunted during its period of reproduction. This provision applies both inside and outside Natura 2000. Under Article 9, Member States can derogate from these provisions under strict conditions, and they would still need to ensure that derogations do not worsen the conservation status of the birds’ population. In Natura 2000, according to Article 4(2) of the directive, Member States must take special conservation measures for regularly occurring species.

3. In the Netherlands, derogations must be justified for both its sedentary and migratory population. In the case of the migratory population, the use of derogations has to be justified at flyway level, together with the hunting take in others Member States, to ensure that the total take does not jeopardise conservation efforts. While Member States have a primary responsibility to monitor the application of the relevant legal provisions and to take the necessary steps for enforcement , the Commission, in its role as guardian of the Treaties, will monitor the situation and may decide to take appropriate action. It might raise the issue during its regular dialogue with the Dutch authorities on the implementation of EU nature legislation.

1 ∙ ⸱ Animal welfare is among the list of policies quoted in Article 13 of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union (TFEU) ‘in formulating and

implementing the Union's agriculture, fisheries, transport, internal market, research and technological development and space policies, the Union and the Member States shall, since animals are sentient beings, pay full regard to the welfare requirements of animals’. 2 ∙ ⸱ Council Regulation (EC) No 1099/2009 of 24 September 2009 on the protection of animals at the time of killing (Text with EEA relevance) OJ L 303, 18.11.2009, p. 1-30. 3 ∙ ⸱

Council Directive 98/58/EC of 20 July 1998 concerning the protection of animals kept for farming purposes, OJ L 221, 8.8.1998, p. 23-27. 4 ∙ ⸱

Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009 on the conservation of wild birds, OJ L 20, 26.1.2010, p. 7-25.