Shocking footage from mink gassing, minks dying in agony on a Polish farm
18 December 2020
Otwarte Klatki
Slow death in a gassing box, beating the animals to death with a metal rod, crushing the still breathing minks by the dead ones – shocking footage from a mink farm in Długie Stare near Leszno, the Greater Poland Voivodeship, was published by Otwarte Klatki. The activists informed the prosecutor’s office about the incident.
The investigation was conducted at the turn of November and December 2020 by the activists from Open Cages Poland (Otwarte Klatki) and the German organization SOKO Tierschutz. Hidden cameras were installed at the mink farm in the village of Długie Stare. For several days, they recorded the slaughter of mink – both inside and outside the gassing box. These are the first recordings of this type from Polish fur farms.
The videos show three people who carry out slaughtering with a gas box. They throw the minks into the gassing box carelessly, and the animals who survived the gassing are hit with a metal rod or killed by hitting against a wooden joist. It is also visible that one mink is killed by kicking. In the cart, into which dead animals are thrown, you can clearly see the minks, which are still breathing, and their bodies are crushed by the bodies of their companions.
It’s now 12 days since we launched our new television campaign on behalf of farmed animals, and we’re thrilled with the response from people of all ages and from all walks of life:
I can’t tell you how much it means to read those words, Mark. If you haven’t yet experienced the ad,
Thanks to the magnificent support of Animals Australia donors, we’ve brought this message of kindness and hope to prime time TV, and it’s sparking meaningful conversations in living rooms and around dining tables across the country.
Many of the calls, emails and comments our team has been so touched to receive are highlighting the value of seeing these animals just before Christmas: a time when pigs, turkeys and other ‘food’ animals suffer so greatly in factory farms and slaughterhouses.
Thankfully, awareness is growing that the ‘traditions’ advertisers and animal industries encourage us to uphold have led to a tragic outcome — Christmas becoming one of the two peak times of animal suffering in the world each year (the other is the Festival of Sacrifice).
At a time that people are bombarded with advertising that reduces these animals to products and ‘roasts’, we knew we needed to give them a living presence on television and remind people that they too are beings with beating hearts.
Our powerful ‘Somewhere’ television commercial is so beautifully achieving this. It is evoking an all-important emotional connection with these unique and precious animals and within that a desire to create a new family tradition is born — one based on kindness, care and compassion for all beings.
Mark, showing what animals in factory farms endure presented us with a great challenge; with the ever-present risk of factory farm vision being knocked back by the broadcasting authority for being “too graphic” or people changing the channel because they “don’t want to know”. That is why the magical needs to be entwined with the sad reality that these animals face: to ensure people could and would watch, while empowering their hearts to have an all-important say.
The strategy is working. Hearts are opening and responding. People are realising just how greatly governments have failed these animals and are seeking out the numerous ‘plant-based’ alternatives that now exist, knowing that within them lies the key to freeing these animals from suffering.
Getting ‘Somewhere’ on prime time was our first challenge; allowing it to have a transformational presence in 2021 is an even greater one.
We know that this little pig has the potential to change the future for so many of those like him. Every time he’s seen or heard, he’s doing so on behalf of every animal locked away from view and denied a voice.
Mark, inspiring a new tradition of kindness and heart-based living has to start ‘Somewhere’… 🙂 How wonderful it would be if it can start with us. I so hope you will join us on this journey. My warmest wishes to you and your family for a kind, peaceful and joyful festive season.
For the animals,
Lyn White AM Director of Strategy
P.S. You might be wondering how farmed animals like our little flying pig can be subjected to routine cruelty when we are supposed to have laws to protect animals in Australia. I know I was shocked when I discovered this was the case. Here are answers to questions that you might have about this and our ‘Somewhere’ campaign.
P.P.S. If this little piglet has inspired you and your family to think differently this holiday season, you might enjoy this useful list of delicious plant-based festive foods we’ve put together.
New investigation shows horrifying footage of Turkey slaughterhouse in France
17 December 2020
L214
Today, Eurogroup for Animals’ member L214 reveals the immense suffering endured by turkeys at a slaughterhouse in Blancafort, Cher in France. Every day, 15,000 turkeys are killed in this slaughterhouse, which flagrantly violates the regulations governing the killing of animals.
The investigation which was initiated thanks to a whistleblower working at the facility, shows that as soon as the turkeys arrive at the slaughterhouse, they are hung upside down with their legs stuck on hooks. This causes acute pain to these birds, which can weigh up to 15 kg. The turkeys are forced to hold their heads up in order to not to scrape the ground. The chain they are hung on goes on for more than 50 metres, making these animals being suspended conscious for more than 2 minutes. These are two flagrant violations of the regulations.
L214 reports that they asked the veterinary services and the Ministry of Agriculture to close this slaughterhouse. Yet, the prefecture only told the slaughterhouse to put in place “immediate corrective measures and a comprehensive structural action plan” within the next 48 hours. In a public petition, L214 calls for the immediate closure of the slaughterhouse as “no immediate corrective can correct such structural problems”.
“A life of suffering, from their first to their last day” – L214 makes a case against the poor rearing and transport conditions of the turkeys:
Before arriving to the slaughterhouse in Blancafort, the turkeys are raised in huge buildings, piled on top of each other and fertilized for 3 to 4 months. In these intensive farms, there are on average 8 turkeys per square metre, often plucked or injured. They will never walk on grass, but wade through the excrement that accumulates over the weeks.
During the transport, L214 reports that they are piled up in crates that are far too small. Their heads touch the ceiling, which does not allow for good ventilation and can cause heat stress for the turkeys as they struggle to breathe and lower their body temperature. Some turkeys get their heads stuck when they are unloaded from trucks, and the slaughterhouse bins are filled with the bodies of those that did not survive the transport.
In view of the flagrant violations of the regulations, L214 reported to have filed a complaint against the transporter and the Blancafort slaughterhouse for animal abuse.
BREAKING: A new investigation and rescue exposes extreme abuse of newborn calves at a Wisconsin Land O’Lakes dairy farm #LetDairyDie
My comment: I don’t know what the US Animal Welfare Act says, but here the law says that anyone who tortures an animal or kills it for no good reason can be punished with up to three years imprisonment under the Animal Welfare Act.
But this penalty is practically never imposed for animal welfare violations in factory farming.
Often times there is not even a charge.
What takes place in the Wisconsin Farm is not uncommon here in Germany and in Europe in general.
The same, if not worse, scandals in German slaughterhouses are increasing every day.
Thanks to the animal rights activists’ undercover investigations, we know it.
The politicians know it too.
But we have criminal politicians who are the closest and best friends of the meat and milk mafia, with personal economic interests in the cause.
These illegal crimes against animals lead us every day more and more to the assumption that we are ruled by scammers, exploiters, and professional animal abusers.
In the name of the animals, we thank and support the group DxE.
Putting animal welfare first: Council sets the course for a comprehensive labelling system that displays the well-being of animals over the whole animal food production cycle
14 December 2020
WAV Comment: Well done German EU Presidency for moving this issue forward. Finally; is the EU listening to what its citizens want ?
Press Release
Under the German Presidency, the Member States have agreed on a way forward in the development of an EU wide animal welfare labelling system that goes beyond voluntary labels and includes all species over their entire lifetime. Eurogroup for Animals sees the next step in introducing a mandatory EU animal welfare label for all animal-based food products.
On December 15, the Council of the European Union on Agriculture and Fisheries made considerable progress in adopting Council Conclusions that call for an EU-wide animal welfare label aimed at improving animal welfare for as many food producing animals as possible. Eurogroup for Animals welcomes the conclusions as the Council clearly sets the starting point for improving the treatment and well-being of farmed animals.
The Council Conclusions are an important step forward toward the comprehensive “Method-of-Production” label proposed by Eurogroup for Animals. We need a label that covers the entire lifetime of animals, including factors such as transport, slaughter and all of the living conditions of the animals. Eurogroup for Animals will gladly support the Commission in the further development of any scheme moving forward.
Says Gemma Willemsen Chair of Eurogroup for Animals’ labelling working group.
In a report launched in October, Eurogroup for Animals asks for adoption of a mandatory “Method-of-Production+ label” based on a core set of animal welfare indicators that measure animal welfare over the entire lifetime of the animals.
“A multi-level label required on all products and for all species by law would be most effective in harmonising practices and setting improvement targets easily identifiable for producers. But it is all about how the conclusions will be implemented. It is important that the label clearly distinguishes between minimum as well as ambitious lower and higher standards. We commend Member States, and the German Presidency in particular, for moving things in the right direction.”
Comments Jürgen Plinz, Treasurer of Deutscher Tierschutzbund.
Putting animal welfare first: Council sets the course for a comprehensive labelling system that displays the well-being of animals over the whole animal food production cycle | Eurogroup for Animals
Etiquette Bien-Etre Animal
Consumers want the label: the Eurobarometer from 2015 showed that 82% of European consumers ask for increased welfare of farmed animals and more than half of the population actively looks for animal welfare labels. In some Member States, different voluntary labels (see Étiquette Bien-être animal from France) have been introduced. Such a label at EU level would empower consumers to make their choice for products with the highest animal welfare scores over the animal’s lifetime, including breeding, transport and slaughter, provided that it becomes mandatory. The success story of the EU energy label which played a pivotal role in consumers’ contribution to reducing the energy consumption clearly shows the impact.
The European Commission is going to start a study on animal welfare labelling in 2021, leading to a proposal following this, expected in 2022.
Animal welfare victory: the CJEU ruling confirms Member States right to introduce mandatory pre-slaughter stunning
17 December 2020
Today is a historic day for animals, as the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) clarified that Member States are allowed to impose mandatory pre-slaughter stunning.
The case raised from the ban adopted by the Flemish Government (BE) in July 2019 which made stunning compulsory also for the production of meat by means of traditional Jewish and Muslim rites.
The verdict ruled that the EU Governments can legitimately introduce mandatory reversible stunning in the framework of Art. 26.2(c) of the Council Regulation 1099/2009 (Slaughter Regulation), with the aim to improve animal welfare during those killing operations carried out in the context of religious rites.
It clearly states that the Slaughter Regulation “does not preclude Member States from imposing an obligation to stun animals prior to killing which also applies in the case of slaughter prescribed by religious rites” .
This judgment considers the latest development on reversible stunning as a method that successfully balances the apparently competing values of religious freedom and animal welfare, and it concludes that “the measures contained in the (Flemish) decree allow a fair balance to be struck between the importance attached to animal welfare and the freedom of Jewish and Muslim believers to manifest their religion”.
Eurogroup for Animals has followed the Court case closely and in October it released an opinion poll showing that EU citizens do not want to see animals slaughtered while fully conscious.
“It is now clear that our society doesn’t support animals to unduly suffer at the most critical time of their lives. Reversible stunning makes it possible to successfully balance the apparently competing values of religious freedom, and the concern for animal welfare under current EU law. Acceptance of pre-slaughter stunning by religious communities is increasing both in EU and non-EU countries. Now it’s time for the EU to make pre-slaughter stunning always mandatory in the next revision of the Slaughter Regulation” commented Reineke Hameleers, CEO, Eurogroup for Animals
Throughout the years, experts have raised concerns about the serious animal welfare implications of killing without pre-cut stunning (FVE, 2002; EFSA, 2004; BVA, 2020), as acknowledged by the Court itself, in another case (C-497/17).
The case will now go back to the Flanders’ constitutional court which will have to confirm and implement the CJEU’s ruling. Furthermore, the imminent revision of the Slaughter Regulation, as announced by the European Commission in the framework of the EU Farm to Fork strategy, gives the chance to further clarify the matter by making pre-slaughter stunning always compulsory and move towards a Europe that cares for animals.
An electrical stunning device (applied to the head only) must pass sufficient current through the brain of the animal to interrupt normal brain activity and render the animal immediately unconscious. Electrical stunning (or electronarcosis) is reversible as it disrupts normal brain function for a short time only. An electrical stunning system requires the correct voltage, current and application time to be delivered for the stun to result in instantaneous and painless unconsciousness.
In India, 1.3 billion people are affected by the curfew due to the corona pandemic. Also in Bantala, where millions of people work in the leather industry.
Leather is the skin of animals, which is chemically preserved through tanning. The chemicals come from China and, like in China, dogs are also to be slaughtered here for the leather industry.
Although China is the largest leather producer and exporter itself, it imports cheap leather from India.
In the end, it is no longer possible to determine where the leather really comes from
India is the largest producer of cheap leather in Asia.
From here, a great demand for finished leather and leather goods is exported to Japan, Germany, Italy, Spain, and France. And for the neighboring countries of Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, the leather comes from India.
Since India exports leather worth billions of euros, cows are simply caught on the streets, but so are dogs. Since everything has to happen very quickly, their legs are chopped off so that they can no longer run away. Then the skin is torn off their bodies while they are alive.
The fact that dogs and cats are also slaughtered for the leather industry in India was rather unknown, especially since dog and cat meat are prohibited. But after the police in Calcutta confiscated 20 tons of dog and cat meat, there is great fear that this meat will also be sold in restaurants.
Slaughtering cows is legal in Kerala and West Bengal. Therefore the animals are carted there.
Excruciating transport
At the markets, the animals are given liters of water before they are sold so that they look plump and can be sold for more money. Cows and calves that are far too young are also sold to traders, contrary to the law, and crammed onto overcrowded trucks to the slaughterhouse. This often leads to the animals falling on top of one another, trampling on one another, or injuring one another with their horns. Cows that collapse on a march are rubbed chili in the eyes, hit with sticks, or their tails are broken to get them to stand up again.
Ingrid Newkirk, President of Peta, followed one of the caravans of cattle stumbling towards Kerala.
“It’s a hideous journey,” she writes “To keep them moving, drivers beat the animal across their hip bones, where there is no fat to cushion the blows. The cows are not allowed to rest or drink. Many cows sink to their knees. Drivers beat them and twist their battered tails to force them to rise. If that doesn’t work they torment the cows into moving by rubbing hot chili peppers and tobacco into their eyes.”
Millions of cows are imported into Bangladesh from neighboring India every year. Although these are “sacred” in India, the workers there quickly forget and kill the cows on the street or in slaughterhouses – without prior anesthesia.
17/12 – We have had the following in to us from SAFE, New Zealand.
They have achieved major wins legally for animals over the last few weeks; now it is time to ramp up the pressure even more and get the government to act.
From SAFE:
Kia ora Mark
We achieved victory for mother pigs, now we need Government action
Today SAFE and the New Zealand Animal Law Association (NZALA) have published a full-page open letter in the New Zealand Herald, asking the Prime Minister to appoint a Commissioner for Animals.
Last month, the High Court found that the Minister of Agriculture and his advisors from the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC) acted illegally when they failed to phase out farrowing crates and mating stalls for mother pigs.
Now that the Government has accepted the Court’s decision, it is time to take animal welfare seriously. We need you to add your voice to ensure this happens.
TAKE ACTION – Demand the government now has a commissioner for animals.
The High Court has ruled that the Minister of Agriculture and his advisors from the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC) acted illegally when they failed to phase out farrowing crates and mating stalls for mother pigs.
The Court’s decision shows that NAWAC did not perform its legal duty well and was biased, consciously or unconsciously, towards industry interests. It also highlights that although New Zealand has some of the best animal welfare laws in the world, there are significant shortcomings with regulation and enforcement of the law.
The Government has accepted the Court’s decision, and we are now asking for some essential changes, starting with the appointment of a Commissioner for Animals.
A Commissioner for Animals should be appointed to oversee NAWAC, advocate for animals and ensure that NAWAC is accountable.
The Government must now take the Court’s decision seriously and show respect to animals and our animal welfare laws. With the appointment of a commissioner for Animals, New Zealand could once again be a world leader in animal welfare.
Write a polite email to Prime Minister Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern and Agriculture Minister Hon Damien O’Connor telling them why you want a Commissioner for Animals.
Key points you can make:
Following the High Court’s decision on farrowing crates, it’s time for the Government to take animal welfare seriously and appoint a Commissioner for Animals.
New Zealand needs a Commissioner for Animals to oversee NAWAC, advocate for animals and ensure that NAWAC is accountable.
New Zealand has some of the best animal welfare laws in the world, however we need to ensure that these laws are properly enforced.
If New Zealand wants to consider itself a world leader on animal welfare, then it’s clear that NAWAC needs oversight from an independent commissioner that reports directly to Parliament.
NAWAC must undergo structural and cultural changes to be able to exercise its legal duty, starting with a Commissioner for Animals to oversee NAWAC and ensure the needs of animals are met.
Thanks – it time for action and demands to be met;
Alarming scenes captured at Scottish salmon farms supplying Co-op, Sainsbury’s, Lidl, Aldi, Morrisons and M&S reveal putrid conditions that lead to invasions of parasitic sea lice. Painful non-medicinal lice management systems that breach basic animal welfare standards on the treatment of farmed animals were also filmed – one of which was operating in a designated Special Area of Conservation and Marine Protected Area famous for its rare flame shell bed.
Around 70 per cent of Scottish salmon farms are RSPCA Assured, while the remainder conform to other supposedly ‘high welfare’ certification schemes such as Best Aquaculture Practices, Marin Trust, GGN Certified Aquaculture and GlobalG.A.P.
More images from the investigation can also be publicly viewed on Flickr.
Promoted as a ‘sustainable’ solution to overfishing, modern aquaculture confines fish in fetid cages by their thousands, creating a breeding ground for disease and causing widespread suffering.
Whilst adult wild salmon are well adapted to coping with the odd sea louse – a parasite that naturally occurs in the sea – the intensification of salmon farming has led to fundamental changes in the density and occurrence of lice in coastal waters. Although one or two lice per salmon may not sound like a real threat, when you multiply that by hundreds of thousands within a sea cage, the consequences are catastrophic.
The lice reproduce rampantly, feeding on skin, mucus and blood, which produces white ‘death crowns’ of exposed flesh on the salmon. Clearly suffering, the infected fish are regularly seen jumping up to 30 centimetres in the air and skimming along the water surface with their tails in attempts to dislodge the bugs. Large numbers of these lice can be devastating, causing skin lesions, loss of scales, secondary infection and ultimately death.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, huge numbers of juvenile sea lice also escape to the local marine environment, causing significant damage to wild salmon and sea trout smolts, whose fragile skin is not yet adapted to coping with parasites on this level.
In response to the invasion of sea lice, the aquaculture industry breeds millions of lumpfish ‘cleaners’ that feed on sea lice, in futile endeavours to control the outbreaks. Other techniques include chemical washes or mechanical treatments such as hydrolicers and thermolicers.
Hydrolicers
During a hydrolice treatment, fish are drawn into a ‘washing machine’ type device through two lines by live fish pumps. Each system line includes a fish counter, two hydrolicer combi units, fish pumps, water separating units and a filtration system to ensure that all the lice can be removed from the water and destroyed.
As the salmon pass through the system, they are sprayed with freshwater jets to dislodge lice that are not adapted to non-seawater conditions. Eye damage, increased stress levels and death are all consequences of the process.
According to the Scottish Government, fish farms have reported killing 269,674 salmon in hydrolicers between 2016 and 2019. That’s an average of 67,418 a year.
Thermolicers
Like with hydrolicer treatments, salmon are herded and pumped up from the sea pen through a tube. Exiting the tubes the fish pass through a tank of warm water, before being ejecting back out into the opposite side of the sea cage. The water is heated up to 34 degrees, which can be 20 degrees above the seawater temperature. It takes around 25-30 seconds for the fish to pass through the entire ‘processing loop’.
Sea lice are sensitive to sudden changes in water temperature and so die and fall off once the salmon hit the heated water. They are then collected and destroyed.
Recent scientific research has found that salmon exposed to water temperatures above 28 degrees centigrade behaved as if they were in pain. Marine and veterinary researchers in Norway observed fish swimming faster, crashing into tank walls and shaking their heads.
According to the Scottish Government, fish farms have reported killing 177,601 salmon in thermolicers between 2016 and 2019. That’s an average of 44,400 a year.
“In my expert opinion and based upon scientific studies from other laboratories, [hydrolicers and thermolicers] contravene the FAWC five freedoms, the RSPCA (2018) welfare standards for farmed Atlantic salmon and the Animal Welfare Act (2006) resulting in harm and poor welfare and should not be employed within the Atlantic salmon farming industry.”
– Dr Lynne Sneddon (Senior Academic, University of Gothenburg)
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Download one of the graphics below and share with the following text:
Putrid conditions and severe overcrowding on Scottish salmon farms lead to parasitic sea lice invasions that kill fish and destroy the surrounding environment. End Factory Farming, Before It Ends Us.
a) from plucked animals that have already been slaughtered (dead plucked) or
b) from the much more brutal live plucking
Most down come from plucking, in which the down and feathers are torn from the animals’ skin during their lifetime. Sometimes this is even done automatically.
Live plucking is banned in Germany and the EU but most of the down used in Germany comes from China, Hungary, and Poland, where plucking by living things is common.
“Plucking troops”– hired for this alone- often injure the animals when they ruthlessly pluck live chords, especially when the feather of the down is still immature, which tears and tears the skin during plucking.
Larger wounds are sutured immediately and broken wings are only sparsely tied without anesthesia.
Plucking live birds is prohibited in the EU – unless the animals lose their down on their own when changing their feathers.
During this time they are allowed to strip them from their plumage (“feather change-molting”).
In many farms, this means that the plumage of the entire herd is plucked under the pretext of molting – even if the animals do not all change feathers at the same time, of course.
Most of the down comes from Asia (80% from China), where it is common to tear the feathers out of birds while they are alive. In Europe, a lot of down comes from Hungary and Poland
So far there are no independent certificates or seals that exclude live-plucking from down products. The existing seals and certificates were introduced by the down industry itself to reassure customers.
Since the retail and production chains for down are very opaque and there are hardly any controls, a buyer can never be sure whether the down of a product comes from live-plucked birds or whether geese and ducks were killed to get their feathers.
And with the purchase of down products, the cruel foie gras industry is also supported, because many foie gras farms benefit not only from the production of foie gras but also from the sale of the feathers of ducks and geese.
German bed manufacturers “officially” condemn live-plucking but let it happen from the back door.
A few years ago a “down dealer” from “Report Mainz” shot a false sales pitch with a leading German bed manufacturer on video.
The footage suggests that bed makers are actually still interested in plucking live animals.
The managing director announced the following to the alleged “Downtrader” – “Report Mainz” reports:
“Officially, I only buy from” Change Feathers “. Live plucking is never official. That is nonsense. We know that it has to be plucked. But under no circumstances can I buy it officially. If someone asks, just tell them it’s from “change feathers”. Who can check this? “(= That is why we reject the product” Down “in general and without compromise).
Not only “normal” abattoirs that are cruel to animals are supported with the purchase of down, but also the foie gras industry in particular.
Apart from the fact that most of the animals had to live in terrible conditions before they were slaughtered.
Live plucking for economy
The practice of live-plucking is banned in the EU (except when the geese are on feather change). Nevertheless, it has been proven several times in Hungarian companies in recent years. Live plucking seems to be particularly widespread in China, where a large part of the down sold in this country comes from.
And I mean…Every year around 10,000 tons of down and feathers are imported to Germany, mainly from Poland, China, and Hungary. Live plucking has a long tradition in Hungary and around 300,000 animals are plucked every year.
During live-plucking, the geese’s feathers are pulled out while they are still alive.
That hurts a lot, and it’s animal cruelty
For the poultry industry, this practice is many times more lucrative than plucking after slaughter, as an animal can be plucked four to seven times until it dies before it is slaughtered.
The fact that the geese are allowed to pluck when their feathers fall on their own does not mean that this procedure is followed consistently because this time is difficult to determine and individually from animal to animal. It is unlikely that an institution can determine this for each individual bird.
We regard this animal product in the same way as milk, leather, fur, or meat because it is also associated with painful origins.
Any consumer with a basic conscience and brain has to boycott this product; There are great variants of down that warm and protect just as well.
This is the only way we can damage the bloody down-industry and significantly reduce the suffering of these animals
Slaughtering cows is legal in Kerala and West Bengal. Therefore the animals are carted there.
World Animals Voice 