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Movement
The Austrian animal protection movement was long considered one of the most successful in the world. Between 1998 and 2008, it managed to significantly reform Austria's animal welfare legislation, achieving a ban on fur farming, a ban on using wild animals in circuses, a ban on experiments on great apes, a ban on battery farms for hens and rabbits, and an introduction of the institute of animal solicitors. All parliamentary political parties pledged to implement animal protection in the federal constitution. These successes were achieved by smart campaigning, with use of regular demonstrations, media work, lobbying, and acts of civil disobedience.
However, not everyone was happy about the successes of the movement. Laws improving animal welfare, like the ban on battery farming, clashed with business interests of animal industries, which made many politicians reluctant to endorse them. But the campaigners managed to use public support to generate pressure on these politicians, which forced them to accept the laws eventually. Understandably, this led to an ever increasing tension between the animal enterprises and the politicians on one side and the successful campaigners on the other side.