LAUSR

Voluntary installation and monitoring of uK abattoirs using CCtV cameras does not work and the time has come to make it compulsory. that is the conclusion by animal aid following its investigation into undercover investigations into slaughterhouse practices since 2009. It has published a catalogue of abuses in a report ‘Britain’s failing slaughterhouses’ – all breaches of animal welfare legislation. Fifteen slaughterhouses in England were filmed and 14 were found to have been breaking the law, according to the report. animal aid director Isobel Hutchinson told Veterinary Record: ‘Momentum has been growing to support CCtV in slaughterhouses and we’re particularly calling on Government to make what was in the Conservative manifesto – a pledge to make CCtV mandatory in slaughterhouses – a reality. animal aid has been campaigning for the introduction of CCtV in slaughterhouse systems since 2009, but the group believe that installation of CCtV alone will not stop the bad practices that occur in slaughterhouses. While some abattoirs install CCtV voluntarily, which has been encouraged by the Farm animal Welfare Committee, the FSa, animal rights groups and supermarkets, these are not independently monitored. animal aid reports that cameras are often not installed throughout the whole premises, are not necessarily facing the right way, turned on, well maintained or working. ‘a crucial thing for us is that it’s not just CCtV cameras being there, it’s the independent monitoring aspect of it that’s vital. Without that the cameras really aren’t doing their job and we’ve filmed in slaughterhouses that have cameras and seen shocking abuse – either they weren’t looking at it or they weren’t taking any action to prevent any cruelty and law breaking that was going on,’ added Ms Hutchinson. last year, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism found that the FSa reported 4000 major breaches of animal welfare laws in the two years up to 2016, while the animal aid report adds that one-fifth of slaughterhouses that were requested to hand over footage to the FSa refused to do so. Heather Hancock, Food Standards agency chairman, said that the FSa has a ‘zero tolerance’ to any breaches of animal welfare standards in slaughterhouses. ‘In September 2016 the FSa Board was disappointed to learn that progress in the voluntary adoption of CCtV in slaughterhouses had plateaued, and concluded that further progress was unlikely on a voluntary basis. We see CCtV as an invaluable management tool to help abattoirs comply with official controls. the FSa Board has called for the mandatory introduction of CCtV in all abattoirs and we will continue to work with Defra as the policy owners toward this end.’ Examples of animal welfare lawbreaking seen on the undercover footage included slaughterhouse workers who punched and kicked animals in the head, burned them with cigarettes, beat them with paddles and broom handles, picked them up by their fleeces and threw them across rooms, smashed sheep head first into walls, attacked pigs with shackle hooks and deliberately gave animals electric shocks through their ears, tails, abdomens and open mouths. according to the report, in more than one case, the abuse of animals stopped temporarily when a vet or other senior official approached. the report states that while animal aid, the BVa and more recently the FSa have called for mandatory CCtV with independent monitoring of the footage, other nations have moved before the uK, namely Israel and France, where the initiative has been enacted.