Three recent investigations put Lidl’s treatment of animals under fire

10 June 2024

AWO

Animal Welfare Observatory’s investigations reveal significant animal welfare abuses across several farms in Spain and Germany connected to Lidl.

The seriousness of the breaches uncovered emphasises once more the urgent need for EU policy-makers to revise the Kept Animals Regulation, as countless sentient beings are shown to be suffering in the most egregious conditions.  

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Three investigations from the Animal Welfare Observatory, published between 2023 and 2024, shows both broiler chickens and pigs (including sows, piglets and fattening pigs) enduring illnesses and malformations while living in disgusting conditions across farms in Spain and Germany, connected to the supermarket chain Lidl. Workers are displayed showing very little care for these sentient beings, and in places, even revelling in the discontent of the animals. 

Fast-growing broiler chickens cannot cope with their growth rate

The first of the three investigations consists of footage recorded between September 2022 and 2023, taken at large-scale farms in northwest Germany. 

The footage shows fast-growing broiler chickens experiencing physical and mental distress due to their unnatural growth rate which, as we have explored in a recent article and report, makes it impossible for them to live comfortable or satisfying lives. 

As the recordings reveal, these fast-growing birds are barely able to move. Elsewhere in the video, day-old chicks are shown being roughly thrown to the ground and mishandled, while deformed chickens struggle to walk, and display twisted necks and other malformations. Coexisting with dozens of corpses, several birds show signs of “botulism”, a debilitating condition that can be passed on through contact with dead birds. 

Diseased pigs are living in squalor and agony 

Subsequent investigations published in November 2023 and May 2024 show pigs living in gruesome conditions on various farms in Burgos, Spain. 

In the first of these investigations, the Animal Welfare Observatory recorded the living conditions of 5,000 pigs spread across five sheds. Extreme physical ailments make life for these pigs very difficult:

• Breeding sows are so thin their spines are showing, and have infected and gangrenous wounds due to spending all their time behind bars;
• Piglets are shown to be trembling, sick and malformed while being abused by workers;
• Fattening pigs live with hematomas, abscesses and skin lesions that are compatible with scabies. Several also have hernias – in the footage, one has a hernia so large it scrapes the floor, weighing about seven kilos. 

The horrors captured on this farm were mirrored by one further investigation published by the NGO in May 2024, showing pigs living in similarly filthy confines – the footage captures feeders full of insects, worms, rats and spider webs. Here, several pigs are also shown to be suffering from hernias, deformities and infections, and are suffering from severe abuse: in one capture, a worker delivers blows with a spiked hammer to mark the pigs that are to be taken to the slaughterhouse.

Animal welfare policies must be enforced to stop this kind of suffering

These kinds of animal rights abuses should not be slipping through the cracks in the EU’s farming industry. Not only do we need better laws to protect all kept animals, but standards must be put in place to ensure these laws are enforced, to truly safeguard the welfare of these sentient beings. 

Regards Mark