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British farm animals are subjected to unnecessary pain and distress six times a day on average as they are slaughtered, according to the findings of a recent investigation carried out by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, an independent not-for-profit organisation.
The Bureau analysed a log of reports submitted to the Food Standards Agency (FSA), the industry regulator in the UK, to reveal how "regular breakdowns on production lines, equipment failures and poor procedures in abattoirs result in thousands of animals being subjected to avoidable suffering each year".
Almost half the recorded incidents were category four breaches, the most serious category, where animals were subjected to “avoidable pain, distress or suffering”.
Some 4,455 of these category four breaches were recorded between July 2014 and June this year, which amounts to an average of six a day. A single breach can involve hundreds of animals.
Welfare breaches
The welfare breaches include a case of a cow being “violently slammed” against a wall following an argument between two workers, an abattoir worker beating three bulls with a wooden stick and electric prod, and a haulier hitting and kicking cattle during unloading.
Many cases involve sheep being grabbed by the wool and ears or dragged by the horns, or pigs being lifted by their ears and tails.
There were also incidences of chickens and pigs being boiled alive, in order to soften the skin and remove hair or feathers.
The Bureau also discovered cases of animals arriving to the slaughterhouse already dead or severely injured. Almost 90% of the most serious category four infractions between 2014 and 2016 related to the transport of livestock from farms.
In one case, a one-eyed cow had a face lesion “completely full of worms” due to an injury which had not healed properly.
And in another case, 33 out of 220 pigs were dead on arrival at the slaughterhouse with “suffocation concluded as possible cause of death”.
Penalties
Between June 2014 and July 2016, all level four breaches resulted in enforcement action, the FSA told the Bureau. It did not state what type of action was taken, though in an earlier response to the Bureau it provided details of cases referred to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in 2013 and 2014.
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