The unusual protest action "Weeks in a Cage" by the animal protection organization "Invisible Animals" begins today in front of the National Assembly. For two weeks, nearly 200 volunteers will take turns in a cage to draw the attention of deputies to the demand to end the raising of calves in single isolation cages. The action is a continuation of the protests from May and the petition submitted in June with 150,000 signatures. What is behind the campaign, why does the organization believe that change is delayed and what is the dispute with farmers and institutions… Stefan Dimitrov, chairman of “Invisible Animals“, speaks to FACTI.
- Mr. Dimitrov, you are starting the action “Weeks in a Cage“, in which volunteers will spend 12 hours in a cage in front of the National Assembly. What do you want the deputies to understand from a person placed in a space similar to the one in which newborn calves are raised?
- We give the deputies the opportunity every day, while going to and coming back from work, not to be able to take their eyes off a question that they must answer and which is above all a moral question.
It is not moral for an animal, barely opening its eyes to the light of day, to be torn from its mother and dragged into a concrete cell, one meter by two, and locked behind cold iron bars. These are animals that have very strong innate needs - to move, to play with others like them, to huddle together when it's cold or they need to calm down. Keeping such an animal around the clock, for months, in a single isolation cage where it can barely turn around - it goes crazy. It's clear to everyone that this is cruelty. Ending this cruelty is a moral issue to which the deputies owe an answer.
- In May, you already held a similar action with people in cages, and in June you submitted a petition to the parliament with over 150,000 signatures. What has happened since then and why has there been no legal change yet?
- Despite the talks and exhortations, at this stage there seems to be a lack of determination and will in the ruling majority to consider and adopt legislative amendments that would in any way limit the use of isolation cages for these animals. I hope I'm wrong; let them refute me. But hope is one thing, facts are another. The fact is that one fifth of the parliament, nearly 50 deputies, before the elections in April promised to support the end of this cruelty. The fact is that half of them are from the ruling majority. The fact is that over 150,000 Bulgarians, in one of the largest petitions in the history of Bulgaria, asked the deputies to show morality and humanity and to fulfill their promises. The fact is that even industry cattle breeding organizations and farmers stand behind the cause. It is also a fact that there is currently no bill submitted.
- Currently, European legislation allows individual rearing of calves up to eight weeks of age under certain conditions. At the same time, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recommends avoiding individual rearing and keeping calves in small groups. Where do you think the line should be between the minimum legal standard and what science already determines as better for animals?
- The existing minimum European requirements for the protection and humane treatment of these animals were adopted in 1997.
There are MPs in the National Assembly today who were not yet born at the time. The cages themselves were introduced in the 1970s. Wherever the line is, we clearly crossed it a long time ago. This has no place in the 21st century.
- Cage farming is not only a problem for the animals, but also for the farmers themselves. Farmers who have eliminated cages have reported healthier calves, better development, less work and better results. Do you have enough concrete data to show that the switch to group farming is economically justified?
- According to a socio-economic analysis by the State Institute of Agrarian Economics from 2024, the investments needed to eliminate cages and introduce modern methods of raising calves are negligible. The amount needed is only 0.08% of all 2.256 billion euros in subsidies that agricultural producers receive annually, according to data for 2025.
And the economic benefits for the farmer, after replacing the cages with modern ways of raising calves, come from the drastically less work that must be done to care for the calf, respectively, from fewer losses due to human error, and apart from the fact that the calf develops better, becomes healthier and, according to scientific research, then pays off with a longer and more productive life on the farm.
- There is already a big movement in the European Union to “End the Cage Age“, and the European Commission is working on changes to animal welfare legislation. Should Bulgaria wait for a pan-European ban, or can and should it introduce stricter rules for calves itself?
- Bulgaria can be an example country, lead the processes and have a decisive role in shaping this future EU policy, or we can wait for Brussels to tell us and implement. One of the two is worthy.
- In other European countries there are also campaigns against cage farming – from actions in front of national parliaments to demonstrations in front of EU institutions. What does international experience show: is it possible for a farm to switch to group farming without this leading to a serious economic blow for the farmer?
- We don't even need to look at international experience. A very large number of Bulgarian farmers have introduced modern farming methods and removed cages in recent years.
If I call a few of them now and ask them if this has been an economic blow for them, they will laugh at me. The benefits are many and real - there is no basis for comparison. The important thing is for a person to know how to raise animals without cages. It's the same with every new thing. That's why we hold seminars for farmers, trainings, articles, share good examples and help.
- One of the strongest criticisms of such campaigns is that activists show extreme cases and create an emotional picture, while farmers have specific problems with diseases, hygiene, costs and calf mortality. How do you respond to the argument that individual rearing is sometimes used precisely for the sake of health and control over the animals?
- If you raise them like people, you will not have problems. That is. In order for there to be no diseases, they must have good ventilation, space, enough milk, the colostrum must be good, there must be no big age differences between the calves in one group – one must know how to raise calves in this way, just as any other way of raising has its drawbacks. And I am not saying this, but European science, Bulgarian science and the practice of the farmers who have done it. Against the background of all this, it is frivolous to claim that the sky will almost fall if the calf is not in a cage, because it could not and would not be possible. It can and does happen every day, and in many places in Bulgaria, and for years.