Charity Worldwide Veterinary Service launches Global Veterinary Challenge Award with BVA to allow scholars to design bold and impactful international projects.
£100,000 award scheme to encourage students to devise big, bold and impactful international animal welfare projects was launched today (12 June).
WVS-organised sterilisation campaign in the Andes, Ecuador.
UK veterinary charity Worldwide Veterinary Service (WVS) and the BVA joined forces to launch the Global Veterinary Challenge Award.
As part of the scheme, launched as part of BVA Live in Birmingham, students will be encouraged and empowered to design a project that champions an international animal welfare issue, and win the cash to help its launch.
Solutions
Students are being encouraged to develop an innovative, sustainable solution to a pressing global animal welfare issue close to their hearts.
The Global Veterinary Challenge Panel will judge the entries, with the winning project allocated funding up to £100,000 and the successful team or individuals working alongside WVS to bring it to life.
To apply, students must submit a proposal for any species that champions a welfare need in an effective, scalable and sustainable way and any location worldwide.
Work together’
Chief executive and founder of WVS, Luke Gamble, said: “The profession is most powerful when we work together as team. Most of us have causes we care about and sometimes it is incredibly hard to find a way to champion them. This challenge solves that.
“The winning idea will not only have funding, but full support to drive forward a project that will make an impactful difference. I couldn’t be more excited to see what comes in – remember, anyone can do easy – applicants need to think bold and big.”
And BVA president Elizabeth Mullineaux said: “At the BVA, our members care passionately about supporting and enhancing animal welfare and for many, myself included, it’s what propelled us to join this fantastic profession.”
‘Outstanding opportunity’
She added: “The WVS Global Challenge Award represents an outstanding opportunity for vet students to dive straight in and deliver real world welfare change for animals across the globe, all before they’ve even graduated.
“We’re looking forward to seeing the project ideas as they come in and the incredible impact this award will have, for both animals but also the students taking part.”
Intensive livestock farms such as those found across the US are spreading across the continent, according to new data
There has been a rise in large intensive poultry units across Europe, which are a key driver of river pollution. Photograph: John Eveson FLPA/FLPA/Shutterstock
American-style intensive livestock farms are spreading across Europe, with new data revealing more than 24,000 megafarms across the continent.
In the UK alone, there are now 1,824 industrial-scale pig and poultry farms, according to the data obtained by AGtivist that relates to 2023.
The countries with the largest number of intensive poultry farm units are France, UK, Germany, Italy and Poland in that order. For poultry farming alone, the UK ranks as having the second-highest number of intensive farms at 1,553, behind France with 2,342.
European consumers quite rightly, are a fairy switched on bunch when it comes to knowing what goes into the food that they eat. Yes or no ?
But, as animal campaigners; we question what we consider to be ‘adequate’ information relating to certain issues re animals and the food chain.
Lets take the humble egg as an example. There are more than 350 million laying hens in the EU. All these hens combined produce close to 6.7 MILLION TONNES of eggs each and every year.
The EU is rather good when it comes to standards and labelling for eggs purchased withing the EU (and still including the UK even after Brexit); of course; the UK was once an EU member state; so labelling was a regulatory requirement.
With EU / UK egg labelling; there is a Regulation – https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32008R0589 which defines the regulations for standards in egg production. Organic production methods; Free Range; Barn or Cage – the labelling system clearly provides the consumer at the supermarket with full details of their eggs – what system was used in their production – so that THE CONSUMER IS FULLY INFORMED AND CAN MAKE A CLEAR CHOICE of whet they are purchasing.
There is no confusion; to the point that every single egg is stamp marked as shown below to include the production method used; the country of origin; and a unique ‘farm ID’ in case of any specific issues relating to the production farm.
Pretty good well monitored and consumer informed system throughout the EU; which we as animal welfare campaigners fully support. The consumer is informed and they make their individual purchases accordingly.
Above – Caged Hens – NO
Below – Free Range – YES.
As welfare campaigners we say there is only one way for consumers to purchase their eggs – if they want to eat eggs – GO FREE RANGE. Compare the free range hens plumage above to that of battery hens below – is that image simply not enough alone to make egg eaters buy NON CAGED eggs.
So ok; there you basically have it – Consumer clear labelling relating to egg production, which allows them to make their independent clear choices.
So for this post; the heading basically says ‘when it comes to meat products, is the EU really telling the consumer what they would like to know?’. We don’t think so; if the labelling system is good for eggs; why the shortfalls for meat products in labelling ?
Cards on the table; I [Mark] have been a non-meat eater for 35+ years. Anything ‘that ever had a face’ is not part of my diet; but I accept there are still lots of carnivores out there. One question though I would ask them is simply; if EU legislation attempts to provide you with accurate labelling on your eggs, and how they were produced; then why not clear and precise labelling on how your meat was reared; AND ESPECIALLY HOW IT WAS KILLED !
Many EU and British citizens; when asked, simply abhor the thought of live animals being ritually slaughtered. But, unlike the ‘egg labelling system’; are EU consumers being led up the garden path when it comes to specific meat labelling?. There are two main methods of ritual slaughter which does not involve pre-stunning an animal before its death; – Shechita (Kosher) – the Jewish method; and Halal which is the Muslim method. Here is more reading from the UK Government about this:
EU law requires that all animals being slaughters for the food chain are stunned and made unconscious prior to killing so that death should be ‘painless’; – hmm; ‘painless’ ? – we say ask the animals going through the process !
But within the EU there are exceptions for religious slaughter as detailed above. Jews and Muslims represent around 6% of the EU population.
Data from Ireland; an EU Member State (MS) showed that around 2010, showed that with just a 1% Muslim population; 6% of cattle, and 34% of sheep were slaughter without stunning. In a 2006/7 survey, it was seen that in France, another MS; 40% of Calves; 25% of Bovine cattle; and no less than 54% of Sheep were slaughtered without stunning.
The EU market for Kosher meat was worth around 5 Billion Euros in 2008.
THE REAL EU MEAT LABELLING ISSUE.
The following is very informative reading for reasons why there is NO standard legislation throughout the entire EU member states when it comes to meat produced by pre-stunning or religious specific methods. We especially suggest looking at the the data on ANNEX 7 – The Practice of Religious Slaughter In Every EU Member State.
Then we can unfortunately understand the EU reluctance, or refusal, to publish concise EU consumer – wide labelling about meat and meat products. When you enter an EU supermarket and are opposed to ritual animal slaughter; does the ‘EU labelling system’ express YOUR animal welfare concerns as a consumer ? – WE WOULD SUGGEST A BIG ‘NO’ !!
But then after all; religion never caused any wars; did it ?
And who in their right mind would want the EU to end up with Egg on its face ?
Exclusive: World-first footage exposed of birds past their egg-laying days being suffocated for supermarket meat
Monday 09 June 2025 17:26 BST
Secretly recorded footage reveals hens apparently writhing in distress and desperately trying to escape as they are suffocated to death to provide meat for supermarkets including Tesco.
In what’s thought to be the first-ever video of its kind, the birds are seen twisting their necks as they are killed with carbon dioxide. They are also heard gasping for breath and emitting high-pitched shrieks.
The recording – which activists say was made at an abattoir endorsed by RSPCA Assured – shows hens being lowered into the gas chamber and dying over the course of several minutes.
Hens were filmed apparently trying to escape from the crates before flopping back in; at times their eyes were open and they were calling (Joey Carbstrong)
Critics said the scenes laid bare the “horrors” behind egg production in the UK, including the fate of even free-range and organic hens.Hens whose egg production has declined are dubbed “spent”, before they are killed and their carcasses are packaged for meat.
Animal-lovers have for years objected to the gassing of pigs with carbon dioxide, warning the animals “burn from the inside out” and suffer immensely in the last minutes of their lives.
Last year 99 per cent of “spent” hens were stunned and slaughtered with CO2; and 77 per cent of meat chickens were killed this way, according to government figures.
In recent years carbon dioxide as a slaughter method has gradually replaced electrical water bath stunning, which raised concerns over the inconsistency of stuns.
Activist Joey Carbstrong said the footage highlighted the discrepancy between images of egg production and the reality (Joey Carbstrong)
The footage, taken with hidden cameras, shows hens – female chickens used for laying eggs – twisting in distress as they die, and some birds apparently trying to escape.
The floor of the gas chamber was littered with dead birds that had jumped out of the crates, according to activist, filmmaker and vegan advocate Joey Carbstrong, who installed the cameras.
Mr Carbstrong and other activists say they shot the video at an abattoir in West Yorkshire run by HCF Poultry. The company denies it was shot at its premises.
HCF supplies Cranswick Foods, one of the UK’s largest meat producers, which processes the hens into chicken-meat products widely sold in Britain.
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by either Cranswick or the abattoir as using CO2 is an entirely lawful way to slaughter chickens. However, Mr Carbstrong said the video exposed “the callous treatment of free-range hens when they are no longer profitable”.
“This footage dismantles the industry’s carefully curated image of ‘happy hens’ and reveals the horrifying truth of how these sensitive birds are discarded,” he said.
The footage included a paper label with HCF’s name and address on it (Joey Carbstrong)
“The public are being misled by labelling and have a right to know the reality behind what they are buying.”
Mr Carbstrong added: “Egg-laying hens have been genetically manipulated to produce around 300 eggs per year – far beyond the 10 to 15 eggs naturally laid by their ancestor, the red junglefowl.
“This excessive egg production takes a severe toll on their bodies in multiple ways. Regardless of whether they are free-range, barn-kept or caged, most hens are crammed by the tens of thousands into filthy sheds, where disease runs rampant and cannibalism of dead and dying birds is widespread.
“After just 18 months of relentless exploitation, they are forced to experience a terrifying and agonising death, before being processed into food products.”
Around 35 million “spent” hens a year are killed for their meat, figures show. HCF can process 10,500 birds per hour, according to a document from 2018, the latest available.
Even free-range hens are put into gas chambers, activists say (Getty/iStock)
Jenny L Mace, an associate lecturer in animal welfare at the University of Winchester, wrote in a report on the footage that the most concerning findings were the high-pitched shrieks, gasping, collisions with equipment, and chickens falling against one another and out of the crates.
“Without use of a significantly less aversive gas or gas mixture, it is difficult to see how this method equates to a viable (high-welfare) replacement to the former slaughter method of shackling chickens upside down and stunning in a water bath, and a humane death,” she wrote.
She said CO2 caused respiratory distress, adding that describing it as an anaesthetic “may be misleading” because of the distress inhaling it causes.
“There is no suggestion of this case being a ‘bad apple’; this is standard practice and in accordance with legislation,” she wrote.
Egg-laying hens have been genetically manipulated to produce around 300 eggs a year, Joey Carbstrong said (Getty/iStock)
Andrew Opie, of the British Retail Consortium, said on behalf of Tesco and other supermarkets:“Our members know how important animal welfare is to their customers and take their responsibilities to animal welfare very seriously to ensure that expected standards are being met.”
RSPCA Assured said the birds in the footage were already unconscious and were not in pain.
A spokesperson said the footage was deeply upsetting but that carbon dioxide was permitted under RSPCA welfare standards, adding: “However, RSPCA standards set requirements that go above the law to ensure a more humane process.
“Due to their physiology, when birds lose consciousness their brains no longer have control over their bodies, which can cause involuntary movements as seen in the footage. This can be incredibly difficult to watch but the birds are actually unconscious when this happens, and are not experiencing pain.”
Cranswick Foods did not respond to a request to comment.
Top tourist destinations in Egypt are blighted by animal abuse, with horses and camels starved, beaten and left to die in squalor, an investigation has uncovered.
MailOnline has seen exclusive footage revealing the extent of cruelty inflicted upon animals by guides offering visitors tours of historic sites, documented in harrowing detail by animal rights group PETA.
Investigators said they found the bodies of animals dumped behind the great Pyramids of Giza on a daily basis, with horses and camels worked to the bone in miserable conditions.
Horrific footage showed euthanised animals, broken by long hours in 35C heat, left out to rot as crows and stray dogs pick at their carcasses. Some – starved to the bone and exhausted – are visibly still breathing, but too weak to get up.
More than 14 million people visit the Pyramids of Giza every year, bringing trade and tourism to Cairo. But with this number set to double by 2030, rights groups are calling for tourists to avoid exploitative traps that come at the expense of many lives.
Unsettling video taken in Cairo between 2023 and 2024 showed horses eating rubbish from skips or the ground, not properly looked after by the tour operators
Many appeared thin, struggling to stand on their own and struggling under the weight and heat of thick saddles and blinkered masks.
Ribs protruded from animals with dirty manes and mottled skin, swarmed by flies in undisclosed areas around the city.
Across from them, about a dozen animals lined up to take the next group of tourists around historic sites.
Open wounds attracted midges, causing horses to squirm and writhe in pain with evidence of medicine or treatment.
Those filmed still had saddles on their back, expected to continue working under the strain.
Others twitched as they lay on the ground with ropes embedded in their skin, eyes half shut as they tried to brush off flies with limp gestures.
Bloodied ‘handles’ made from twine appeared to have been poked through the bodies of abused animals for easier control and manipulation.
PETA also documented how horses were whipped while being forced to pull carriages for tourists in Cairo.
Thin horses baring their teeth are seen outside the famous pyramids being beaten as tourists watch on unmoved.
Various draft animals are used to ferry visitors around the historic sites for a fee.
Jason Baker, PETA Senior Vice President, told MailOnline: ‘No decent person would dream of climbing onto a horse or camel if they knew that behind every ride is a disturbingly cruel industry that physically abuses these sensitive animals up until the moment their exhausted bodies give out.’
He said that their investigation had shown how ‘half-starved’ animals at the Giza pyramids are ‘literally worked to death’.
If they collapse first, they are ‘whipped mercilessly to force them to get up and pull carriages or carry tourists’.
‘Most suffer from wounds, mange, and painful scarring and receive no treatment, then when they’re no longer considered useful, they’re dumped like rubbish or dragged to a slaughterhouse, where their throats are slit while they’re fully conscious,’ he assessed.
‘PETA’s shocking findings – and the Egyptian government’s shameful attempt to cover them up – sends a clear message to all tourists: avoid all animal rides like the plague.’
PETA’s investigation showed how camels, suffering from open wounds and infection, were also beaten in front of tourists.
Animals are seen with ropes through their faces and chains around their bodies, with loose skin hanging from bloodied lacerations.
The animal rights group said its investigators had come across dead camels with their throats ‘slashed’.
Footage showed camels limp or dead, some bleeding out, by the sides of roads as bystanders walked past reactionless.
One live animal was left to sit next to the corpse of another slowly bleeding into the street with a large gash in its neck.
Others, thin and weak from malnourishment, were seen being beaten with sticks to get up or dragged into trailers unwillingly on thick ropes.
Camels face a dire existence in Cairo; when no longer deemed useful, many are sold on to slaughterhouses.
Death in these abattoirs is a painful, grisly affair: footage showed live camels fully conscious as other working animals were slain, cut by the neck and left to bleed out on a cold, bare floor.
In an instant, another is approached from the front and slashed. But death takes some time. The animal cries out what it can as it writhes on the floor in pain.
One tries desperately to get up in its last act before collapsing and falling on its side. The chorus of screams continue around the building, bodies twitching for long, painful seconds before going limp.
For many thousands of animals, this will be the only life they know. Tourism contributes some 10-15 per cent of the Egyptian economy, incentivising keen entrepreneurs to cater their businesses to tourists.
But the scale and conditions of such abuse only exist due to lack of enforced regulation and the willingness of tourists to pay for such tours.
Video on Page
PETA revealed the lengths some guides will go to to stop the horrifying shadow of their operations coming out in their harrowing exposé.
Video showed how a man organising camel and horse rides called the police on a visitor after he began taking photographs.
Police, along with a representative from the Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism, detained the man for nearly an hour and a half, PETA reported.
They allegedly ‘intimidated’ him, insisting he clear his memory card, before confiscating his camera.
On camera, the man is questioned over his documentation of the abuses.
Someone out of view says: ‘When you take photos coming to the pyramids, you can take photos of the pyramids, of the second… of the sphinx.
‘But it’s not allowed for anybody to take photos of the policemen, of the cart, of the camel, of the horses.’
The man apologises and is told: ‘Whether you are sorry or not, you did something wrong. You broke the law.’
They then tell him they are going to delete all of his photos ‘for the whole visit’ in a disturbing cover-up.
Egypt does have special rules about taking photos of historic sites due to potential damage from flash photography.
But the Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism relaxed more general laws about street photography in 2022 after tourists and influencers complained about officials shutting down their photo opportunities.
Taking photos of children is still not allowed, taking photos of adults requires written consent and taking photos of police or military is generally unadvised.
There is no clear law pertaining to the photography of animals.
The man is seen on camera asking where they are taking him. He is told he will be taken to the Ministry.
Another off camera denies working for the government, claiming to be a tour operator.
Millions travel to Egypt every year to enjoy a rich history today synonymous with the height of culture and civilisation.
But behind the scenes, a sinister reality exists in stark antithesis to the wonders of human brilliance all around.
New footage shows a pressing need for reform and awareness in a country where attempts to expose the truth are often repressed with force.
But until Egypt shows willing to tackle the issue, the industry will be propped up by tourists bringing demand.
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And yet some – indeed too many – are totally blind to what is going on right in front of them ..
Collection of seven shorts due out in 2025 tells story of conflict from perspective of animals
The occupying Russian soldiers paid little attention to the elderly woman shuffling through the farmland surrounding the villages outside Kyiv, taking her goat to pasture. But she was focused closely on them. After locating their positions, she headed back home with the goat, and later called her grandson, a soldier in the Ukrainian army, to give the coordinates.
The story is one of seven episodes, based on real events from the first year of Russia’s full-scale invasion but lightly fictionalised, that make up a feature film about the war in Ukraine, due out later this year. All seven of the shorts have one thing in common: they tell the story of the conflict from the perspective of animals.
Continue reading …..
Producer Oleh Kokhan during filming. Photograph: Sota
The opposition stems from serious welfare and environmental concerns: the extreme cruelty of confining intelligent, solitary animals like octopuses in farming conditions, the lack of humane slaughter methods, and the damaging impact such farms would have on fragile marine ecosystems.
The Spanish association of law professionals, INTERCIDS, has presented a legislative proposal to national politicians that aims to establish a proactive ban on octopus farming across the country. The proposal responds to the growing chorus of scientists, animal and environmental protection organisations, and citizens who have spoken out against octopus farming.
Although no industrial octopus farms currently exist in Spain or elsewhere, seafood multinational Nueva Pescanova announced plans to establish the world’s first industrial-scale octopus farming in the Canary Islands.
Submitted to the Parliamentary Association for the Defence of Animal Rights (APDDA), the proposal seeks to amend Spain’s national Law 23/1984 on marine farming/aquaculture in order to prohibit the farming of octopuses for food and any other productive purpose. It would also ban the commercialisation of octopus products derived from such activities.
Octopuses consumed as food are currently caught in the wild, primarily by small-scale fisheries. There are no existing legal frameworks regulating octopus aquaculture in Spain. Therefore, INTERCIDS’ proposal aims to close that gap preemptively by enshrining a ban into law that addresses the grave risks associated with the farming of captive octopuses.
The next steps for the proposal will depend on national politicians, who must decide whether they will move forward with submitting it as a formal legislative proposal to be approved by the Parliament in the coming months.
With ever more natural disasters occurring thought ought to be given to other Animals, and how to protect and rescue them – when often, sadly, only Human lives seem to matter. This is, in our view, an impossible situation, and all of us are tasked to change it, with our own behaviour, going forward towards a world where equal consideration is given to all.
When disasters strike, people are not the only victims. Hurricane Katrina raised public attention about how disasters affect dogs, cats, and other animals considered members of the human family. In this short but powerful book, now available in paperback, noted sociologist Leslie Irvine goes beyond Katrina to examine how oil spills, fires, and other calamities affect various animal populations―on factory farms, in research facilities, and in the wild.
In a new preface, Irvine surveys the state of animal welfare in disasters since the first edition. Filling the Ark argues that humans cause most of the risks faced by animals and urges for better decisions about the treatment of animals in disasters. Furthermore, it makes a broad appeal for the ethical necessity of better planning to keep animals out of jeopardy. Irvine not only offers policy recommendations and practical advice for evacuating animals, she also makes a strong case for rethinking our use of animals, suggesting ways to create more secure conditions.
The event is a staple in the island’s tourism calendar
A Sark resident has described calls to end the island’s annual sheep races as “urban wokery gone mad”.
In a letter to the Sark Carnival Committee, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals group (Peta) wrote “using animals as exhibits has no place in modern entertainment”.
Former owner of Stocks Hotel Paul Armogie argued the Sark Sheep Racing Festival, which has taken place for 30 years, was “part of rural heritage” and said it would be a “tragedy” if it ended.
The festival committee said it had not yet received a letter from Peta, but was seeking advice and would respond “in due course”.
Money raised at the event goes to a local charity subsidising prescriptions
Jennifer White, associate director of media and communications at Peta UK, said the sheep racing was “archaic, outdated and cruel to sheep”.
She said: “Just because something is called a ‘tradition’ certainly does not make it right.”
“We know that sheep are incredibly sensitive, often timid animals and being forced to race in front of noisy crowds would likely be very stressful for them,” she added.
Ms White said: “It’s 2025, we do not need to be treating animals like wind-up toys.
“The best things is for the event to be cancelled, for the sheep to be taken out and for it to be replaced with willing human participants instead.”
Mr Armorgie responded: “If there was any whisper the sheep were being harmed or in any distress then it would not happen.”
He added that as an animal lover, if he thought there was risk, he would be the “first to shout about it”.
The race takes place annually in July and sees sheep race with teddy jockeys tied to their backs.
It often sees almost 2,000 people travel to the island to spectate.
All proceeds from the event go to the Professor Charles Saint Sark Medical Trust, which helped subsidise medical care in the island.
World Animals Voice 