Austria Outlaws Battery Chickens

Austria banned battery chicken farming yesterday in an animals rights act which also bars wild animals from circuses, forbids the chaining of dogs, and guarantees cattle at least 90 days unfettered movement a year.

All four parties in parliament approved the law unanimously - a highly unusual event - although the Social Democratic and Greens opposition had demanded even tougher regulations.

The law begins to take effect next January but will not be fully implemented until 2020, by when only free-range chickens may be raised in Austria, although imports of battery fowl are not prohibited.

"A day of joy," the Social Democrats' animal rights expert, Ulli Sima, said.

The Christian Democrat chancellor, Wolfgang Schüssel, said he would push for the rest of Europe to follow Austria's lead.

Farmers, bitterly opposed to the act, are seeking compensation for those rearing chickens.