During the four-hour debate, parliamentarians, including those from President Emmanuel Macron's ruling LaREM party, voted against the measure to improve the condition of animals bred in intensive farming by enforcing outdoor access by 2040.
The provision - the most ambitious and most expensive of the bill - was rejected on the grounds that it wold increase production costs and therefore the price paid by the consumer.
Other measures removed from the bill included hunting with dogs and in underground in burrows of foxes and badgers.
The provisions were proposed by Cédric Villani of the EDS (Ecology, Democracy and Solidarity) party.
La majorité a choisi de supprimer tout simplement l'art. 5 qui visait à améliorer les conditions d'élevage en accompagnant les agriculteurs (fin des cages, possibilité d'un accès au plein air). C’était indéniablement le plus ambitieux, nous y reviendrons en séance ! #PPLAnimaux pic.twitter.com/8KYpkLoFxh
— Cédric Villani (@VillaniCedric) October 1, 2020
Earlier in the week, parliament voted in favour of banning wild animals in circuses and marine parks within 5 years -- within two years for certain animals such as bears, elephants and lions.
It also approved an end to breeding American mink for fur production within five years, but not for certain rabbit species that are bred for fur making.
Ahead of the debate, animal rights campaigners released images taken from a farm they said houses more than 40,000 rabbits in small cages in the western Brittany region.
