Environment Secretary Michael Gove has today announced plans to make CCTV mandatory in all slaughterhouses in England along with other measures that he hopes will “cement UK’s position as a global leader on animal welfare”. This follows shocking revelations of cruelty in slaughterhouses in England following several investigations by Animal Aid.
Harry Huyton, OneKind Director, said:
“I would like to congratulate Animal Aid for their extraordinary investigations into slaughterhouses in England. The shocking and harrowing cruelty they uncovered demanded a response, and today we are finally seeing progress.”
Animal welfare legislation is fully devolved to Holyrood, and in Scotland OneKind and political activists have called on the Scottish Government to introduce mandatory CCTV in slaughterhouses. A petition supporting the campaign was launched two weeks ago and currently has 6,500 signatures.
A recent exposé revealed that 706 animal welfare incidents occurred between 1 May 2015 and 31 January 2017, many involving multiple animals.
Harry Huyton continued:
“Scotland must not be left behind when it comes to farm animal welfare. If anything we should be taking the lead. So today we are redoubling our calls on the Scottish Government to introduce mandatory CCTV in all of Scotland’s 35 abattoirs.”
“CCTV provides an important safeguard and helps protect both the animals and staff in slaughterhouse. It’s cheap, simple and effective. We are confident that the Scottish Government will be listening to the many voices calling for mandatory installation.
“As always, the devil will be in the detail. Most slaughterhouses already use CCTV to varying extents. The key thing is to mandate it in all parts of the slaughterhouse, wherever live animals are to be seen, and to put in arrangements to ensure that the footage is available to official vets and independently monitored.”
Notes to editor:
- OneKind is a Scottish animal protection charity working to end cruelty to Scotland’s animals.
- The consultation on CCTV in slaughterhouses in England runs for six weeks and is at https://consult.defra.gov.uk/farm-animal-welfare/cctv-in-slaughterhouses
- OneKind’s petition for CCTV in slaughterhouses in available here
For further information, photographs, or to request an interview, please contact:
Sarah Moyes
Tel: 0131 661 9734
Email:info@onekind.org
its a disgrace what these poor animals go through if its no bad enough going to be killed they get abused by workers to why in the name would anyone do that shame to you all
Make CCTV mandatory
I employ you to do the same as England stop the cruelty of those who get pleasure in abusing these poor animals …is in not enough what they have to endure
It recently became SNP and Green policy and yet the SNP have dismissed it when questioned by Alison Johnstone of the Greens. Time to ramp up the pressure!
Please make cctv mandatory, not only are these poor animals being abused they are forced to stand around and watch their fellow animals slaughtered before them. Animals have feelings too, shame on the abusers, they truly are the worst beings on this earth.