“If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian.”
– Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney’s famous words ring true for anyone who’s glimpsed the terrible things that happen to animals in abattoirs. But in the UK, far from having “glass walls”, most abattoirs are not even properly monitored, allowing shocking abuse to happen behind closed doors.
Animal Aid investigated nine randomly chosen UK abattoirs and found breaches of welfare laws in eight of them. Animals were kicked, slapped, stamped on, beaten, punched, burned with cigarettes and picked up by their fleece and ears and thrown into pens. The footage showed inadequate, botched and multiple stunning and the sadistic use of stunning equipment to “punish” animals.
Neither the government-appointed, on-site veterinarians nor the abattoir operators had detected a single illegal act that was filmed.
That’s why we’re getting behind an online petition to make closed-circuit television (CCTV) mandatory in all abattoirs – the first step towards creating transparency and stopping workers from getting away with abusing animals.
CCTV would act as a deterrent to those who would otherwise abuse animals and would also provide evidence for prosecutions when staff did harm them. Although it won’t end animal suffering in abattoirs, it is an invaluable tool that would help veterinarians and animal welfare officers protect animals from gratuitous abuse, incompetence and negligence.
We need to reach 100,000 signatures on the petition to make sure it is debated in Parliament and to ensure that politicians take this issue seriously. Please sign the petition today and help build the momentum by sharing it as widely as possible.
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