The Biggest Scandal In Modern Pig Farming? FARMAGEDDON – Solutions and Survivors

“Please sign this petition, We have to keep the public updated on animal welfare issues. But with the AG- Gag Laws trying to be introduced to protect those who are blatantly flaunting the law; it’s hard to know what or where to turn to next.  Please sign the petition here or further down.”

News Link & Petition:–http://action.ciwf.org.uk/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=119&ea.campaign.id=20836&ea.tracking.id=2d57aea1

“We have to be the voice of the voiceless & ensure laws put in place to protect them; are in use!”

“YOU The PUBLIC have a voice, if you eat meat, don’t you want it to come from healthy farms, where the animals are cared for as they should be.? There are no excuses as you can see in the second video…but farmers cut corners to produce meat cheaply…would you honestly want to eat the meat that came from ill, diseased or filthy animals fed with slop??”

“Every time you open the door to one of these farms, you tell yourself: ‘it will be better than the last. They can’t all be ignoring the law, they can’t all be inflicting such misery.’ But then you see the pigs, and realise the scale of the suffering. It breaks your heart.”

Compassion’s Head of Investigations.

We have created a short video to summarise the findings of our investigation. Please help us to protect the pigs by watching it and sharing it as widely as possible.

The biggest scandal in modern pig farming?

Published on 23 Oct 2013

Much of the EU pig industry is completely ignoring basic welfare laws — leading to the suffering of millions of pigs. Compassion in World Farming has pulled together evidence from across Europe — join us in standing up for pig welfare by signing the petition: http://www.ciwf.org/EUpigvideo

Last year Compassion visited 45 pig farms across the EU. We went south to Italy and Spain; south-east to Cyprus; west to Ireland; and east to Poland and the Czech Republic. On every single farm we found the laws put in place to protect pig welfare were being flouted – the suffering was hard to witness.

And it doesn’t stop there.

We believe aspects of the Pigs Directive are being blatantly ignored all across the EU, inflicting illegal cruelty on millions of intelligent and sensitive animals. There are over 140 million pigs in the EU at any one time. Sometimes the scale of the challenge we are facing seems overwhelming.

But we have good news. The response to our petition has been amazing. It is the fastest growing petition in Compassion’s history; please help us keep up the momentum.

Take action

• Sign the petition:-http://action.ciwf.org.uk/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=119&ea.campaign.id=20836&ea.tracking.id=1174f49c&utm_campaign=pigs&utm_source=shared&utm_medium=link
• Take action on illegal sow stalls
• Call on the Irish Agriculture Minister to improve conditions for Ireland’s pigs
• See Hope in London and sign the petition in person

FARMAGEDDON – Solutions and Survivors

Published on 20 Feb 2014

An alternative to the Californian mega dairy.

Humane, sustainable dairy farming can and does exist in California! In this film, Philip visits Strauss dairy whose organic dairy herd graze on pasture and are treated as much more than just units of production.

Over a three-year period Philip Lymbery (CEO of Compassion in World Farming) has travelled the world bearing witness to the hidden cost of cheap meat and the devastating impact of factory farming — on people, animals and our planet.

The findings of this journey are brought together for the very first time in Farmageddon (published by Bloomsbury).

Farmageddon is now available to order online and in all good bookshops: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/14…

Help us stop factory farming. Join Compassion in World Farming today: http://www.raw.info/farmageddon

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GRAPHIC VIDEO: WHERE DO FARM ANIMALS END UP ONCE THEY LEAVE THE EU?

“Please sign the petition to give better protection to EU Livestock being exported abroad; as soon as they leave the EU they are no longer protected… we must change this; by being their voice!

Please speak up for them & sign the petition!http://action.ciwf.org.uk/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=119&ea.campaign.id=25818&ea.tracking.id=7774353c&utm_campaign=transport&utm_source=actionemail&utm_medium=email&ea.url.id=203557&ea.campaigner.email=KmIGskm9q9s8Id8OlpmXxz%2BUx/5a9CUY&ea_broadcast_target_id=0 “

I believe All animals deserve the 5 freedom act throughout their entire life; which they ultimately give to humans for food…the following is the very least we can do for them; whilst they are alive:- 

1. freedom from hunger and thirst
2. freedom from discomfort (shelter from heat and rain)
3. freedom from pain, injury and disease
4.  freedom to express normal behaviour (without inconveniencing or harming others)
5. freedom from fear and distress.

Scientific research is constantly revealing new evidence of animals’ intelligence and emotions. This interest is reflected in burgeoning numbers of journals, books and reports. Professor Marian Dawkins of the Oxford University has called the study of animal sentience “one of the most exciting and the most important in the whole of biology.”

There is now evidence that many animals can learn new skills and some appear to show emotions similar to human empathy. They can also be reduced to a state resembling human depression by chronic stress or confinement in a cage. This new understanding of the sentience of animals has huge implications for the way we treat them and the policies and laws we adopt. Read More about sentient beings:-Http://www.ciwf.org.uk/animal_sentience/default.aspx

Three million animals a year are exported live from the EU to non-EU countries. As soon as they leave European Union borders they are no longer protected by European law. They’re on their own out there.

At the end of 2013 we released evidence showing appalling cruelty to European animals at a slaughterhouse in Beirut. Now, Compassion’s Investigation Unit, in partnership with Animals Australia, has also documented brutal handling at abattoirs and on the streets in Jordan, Turkey and the West Bank.

The handling and slaughter these animals can face is nothing short of horrendous. But it shouldn’t be that way. All of the countries we visited have signed up as members of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and in doing so have signed up to a code of recommendations on the slaughter of livestock. Yet, everywhere we visited we saw multiple breaches of even the most basic OIE recommendations.

In slaughterhouses we filmed staff moving animals into place by dragging them by the tail, legs, fleece and even by the eye sockets. Some animals were strung up with chains; their whole body weight on one leg. Others were restrained in mechanical boxes that flipped them completely upside down and then dropped them onto the bodies of other dying animals.

When animals don’t end up in slaughterhouses, they face death on the streets – an even more brutal and unregulated ending.

We found animals being pulled out of the backs of trucks without ramps, bound by the feet, tripped over with ropes, contorted into position and then tied to the ground or pinned down by large groups of people before being slaughtered. Often, when it came to slaughter the knives used were blunt and ineffective and animals remained conscious for many minutes after having their throats cut.

What’s the solution?
Much of the suffering we witnessed could easily be stopped with just basic and inexpensive changes to slaughterhouses and staff training.

Ultimately, Compassion wants an end to all long-distance transport of farm animals. But the cruel trade in animals from the EU is vast and will take time to crack. As an interim measure, we’re therefore calling for action to ensure that exported European animals are slaughtered to at least the standards recommended by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).

EU Member States that wish to export animals outside of the EU should be providing practical support to improve the standards of slaughter in importing countries.

Supporting improvements to slaughter in this way will of course not only help any European animals that end up in non-EU countries. It would also reduce the suffering of all animals facing slaughter in those countries.

Please watch our exposé today and then take action by filling out the form to the right to email the Agriculture Ministers of the EUs biggest exporters of live animals.

Viewer Discretion Advised – The Fate of Exported European Animals

Published on 19 Feb 2014

The contents of this video are graphic and will be distressing – please take action here: http://goo.gl/5MbYoR

What happens when European animals are exported live beyond the borders of the EU?

Compassion in World Farming‘s Investigation Unit, in partnership with Animals Australia, investigated the trade and documented brutal handling at abattoirs and on the streets in Jordan, Turkey and the West Bank.

News Link:-http://action.ciwf.org.uk/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=119&ea.campaign.id=25818&ea.tracking.id=7774353c&utm_campaign=transport&utm_source=actionemail&utm_medium=email&ea.url.id=203557&ea.campaigner.email=KmIGskm9q9s8Id8OlpmXxz%2BUx/5a9CUY&ea_broadcast_target_id=0

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Shocking Footage Video: Italian Pigs Investigation; Petition To Sign Please

Compassion in World Farming’s Investigation Unit recently undertook an undercover investigation into pig farming in Italy. What they found were pigs crowded together in inhumane conditions suffering routine cruelty.

We have produced a short video containing some of the footage that our investigators uncovered. We must warn you that it is upsetting viewing. You can take action on this issue without watching the film, but if you do choose to view it, please be warned that it contains images of animal suffering.

Viewer Discretion – Shocking Footage – Italian Pig Investigation

Published on 31 May 2013

A recent investigation by Compassion in World Farming into intensive pig farming in Italy has uncovered shocking maltreatment.

Following our recent investigation into Spanish pig farms, Compassion visited 11 farms in Italy. On every single one, we found the EU Pigs Directive (designed to protect the welfare of pigs) being blatantly flouted.

Widespread maltreatment uncovered

Every single one of the 11 farms visited by our investigators was blatantly flouting the EU Pigs Directive – a piece of legislation designed to protect the welfare of all the EU’s 255 million pigs.

Our investigation exposed:

• Pigs living in completely barren environments, being housed on bare concrete with nothing to satisfy their inquisitive minds
• Pigs with tails routinely docked – a painful mutilation used to prevent tail-biting, which can occur when pigs are forced to live in barren conditions
• Pigs left sick or injured. On one farm, a pig was so severely wounded from fighting that it had died.

We believe these farms to be representative of the massive Italian pig industry – which means up to 13 million Italian pigs could be enduring these terrible conditions every year.

We must tell the world what is happening behind the closed doors of Italian pig farms so please share the film with as many friends as possible. Use this link: www.ciwf.org/italianpigs

Compassion in World Farming is calling for:

• Enrichment materials (such as straw) to be provided to all pigs
• Tail docking to only be used as a last resort, never routinely
• Sows to be kept in groups, in large pens, with plenty of bedding
• Limited stocking densities, to avoid over-crowding
• All sick or injured animals to be treated and cared for immediately.

Compassion in World Farming has launched an EU-wide petition, calling on the Agriculture Ministers from all 27 EU Member States to ensure that the Pigs Directive is fully enforced in every EU nation.

Please take action by signing the petition now and call for an end to this unacceptable treatment of pigs in Italy and throughout the EU.

News & Petition Link:-http://action.ciwf.org.uk/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=119&ea.campaign.id=20836&ea.tracking.id=f2e73a6a

Slaughter of Pigs – Northern Chile’s Agrosuper Plant

CIWF Steps in to Help in Chilean Pig Farm Crisis – 31 May 2012

CHILE – Animal welfare organisation Compassion in World Farming has stepped in to offer help to the beleaguered pig complex at Freirina in Chile.

CIWF said that the mega pig factory farm in Chile is in huge trouble, as pigs have been dying and the health of the community has been put at risk.

Philip Lymbery, CEO at Compassion in World Farming said: “This appalling case is further evidence that factory farming is not just an animal cruelty issue – people and the planet are hugely impacted as well. The immense negative impact that the factory farming of half a million pigs will have had on the environment, and the local residents’ health, is staggering, both in scale and severity.”

Chilean authorities have declared a health alert at the plant, following the deaths of large numbers of pigs. According to local news reports, sows are being ‘eliminated’ to prevent new litters from being born and Agrosuper has declared that it will not be moving the pigs to another location but will be slaughtering all the remaining pigs, CIWF said.

Mr Lymbery added: “Compassion is looking to help resolve the crisis – to achieve an outcome with the best possible results for all involved, ensuring the welfare of these pigs is treated as a priority and that local residents are securely protected from any pollution. We want to ensure that such a calamity does not arise again.”

News Link:–http://www.thepigsite.com/swinenews/29894/ciwf-steps-in-to-help-in-chilean-pig-farm-crisis

Pigs in Health Alert to be Slaughtered – 29 May 2012

According to reports from Chile, the pigs at the Agrosuper plant in Freirina will have to be slaughtered because it will be imp[ossible to transport them off the facility and to find farms for them.

The pig processing plant was closed by the government for health reasons after protests from the loical population.

The CEO of Agrosuper is reported in the local media saying: “They are going to be slaughtered. They are not going to another farm, nor to another plant.”

News Link:–http://www.thepigsite.com/swinenews/29874/pigs-in-health-alert-to-be-slaughtered

Health Alert at Chilean Pig Plant – 28 May 2012

CHILE – Chilean Health Minister, Jaime Mañalich, has stepped in to help the residents of Freirina because of deficiencies at the Agrosuper pig processing plant in the area, where pigs have been dying and the health of the community has been put at risk

On Friday, an inspection was made at the factory and found that the company had not taken the actions they had promised,” the authority said.

The government decree has meant the closure of the plant while the health status of the facilities are assessed and so the authorities can provide a mechanism to begin to feed more than 500,000 pigs in that have not received food or water in recent days.

This was carried out by a working group comprising representatives of the Health Seremi Atacama, SAG and community members, who discussed the most effective measures to take.

The Minister Mañalich went to Agrosuper plant in Freirina, where he found that it was “completely abandoned, without workers, without supervision and pigs left to their fate”.

Read More:–http://www.thepigsite.com/swinenews/29862/health-alert-at-chilean-pig-plant

Community members, Minister of Health want pig factory closed as soon as possible.

Meat processing company Agrosuper’s request for a three-month extension to the mandatory evacuation of its plant in northern Chile was met with disapproval on Tuesday by government officials and locals alike.

“The company initially requested a year to close the plant, then later nine months. We believe that with the estimates of our veterinarians, and specialists, six months is a more than reasonable time period to close the plant and reduce the bad odors,” Mañalich told La Tercera .

Agrosuper reasoned that with around 50,000 pregnant pigs, they need a total of nine months because the move could cause the death of the young animals.

Read More:-http://www.santiagotimes.cl/chile/health/23867-debate-persists-over-closure-of-northern-chiles-agrosuper-plant

HALF A MILLION PIGS AT RISK OF DYING IN FACTORY FARM IN CHILE

28 May – Emma Slawinski, Compassion’s Senior Campaigns Manager says: “There are so many factors involved in this horrendous situation. The impact that this is having on the pigs’ welfare, the health and disease risks to the local residents, the immense negative impact the factory farming of half a million pigs will have had on the environment – it is staggering, both in scale and severity.”

Chilean authorities have declared a health alert at the plant, following the deaths of large numbers of pigs. According to local news reports, sows are being ‘eliminated’ to prevent new litters from being born and Agrosuper is trying to move the pigs to another location. But this will just be moving the same problem to another place: factory farming is cruel to pigs, bad for the environment, and as has been proven in this situation, a health and disease risk.

Emma continues: “Compassion is looking to help resolve the crisis – to have an outcome with the best possible results for all involved: the helpless pigs, the pushed-to-their-limits neighbours and the workers involved.”

Read More :-http://www.ciwf.org.uk/news/pig_farming/half_a_million_pigs_at_risk_of_dying_in_factory_farm_in_chile.aspx

22 May – Mañalich Agrosuper visited the plant of Freirina: is cruel and dangerous

 Health Minister was to assess the situation of the approximately 500 000 pigs left in the kennel odors emanating. He said that the animals have escaped and that his deposition could contaminate the valley.

” Concerning the dead animals the minister said that “there are several dead pigs pavilions, each pavilion has a population of about 500 pigs, inspect places that there are about ten dead pigs. The waste treatment plant there is overflow of feces pools and several pavilions are animals that escaped (…) let the plant of 500 thousand animals stranded in my opinion is an act of cruelty and also a risk to the population inconceivable. ”

Read More:-http://www.soychile.cl/Copiapo/Sociedad/2012/05/22/92978/Ministro-Manalich-espera-evitar-un-mal-mayor-a-nivel-sanitario.aspx

Mañalich Agrosuper visited the plant of Freirina: it is a cruelty and a peligro.mpg

Video Link In Spanish:–http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdcjosvB5aA&feature=related

Minister of Health was to assess the status of the nearly 500 000 pigs left in the kennel odors emanating. He said that the animals have escaped and that his deposition could contaminate the valley

.http://www.soychile.cl/Copiapo/Sociedad/2012/05/22/92978/Ministro-Manalich-es …

Freirina Agrosuper EXPOSED

Published on 30 May 2012 by sheshoxare805 (Translated from Spanish)

EligeVeganismo video. The opinions given in the video do not necessarily represent those of the owner of this channel. Are exclusive of what preparron this video. “We infiltrated in pig farms in Freirina Agrosuper company to document the situation of victims ignored after the social conflict that kept people and companies competing in a few weeks. present our first investigation revealed the hell of the 500,000 pigs for human consumption and held in the III region. ” Source: http://www.youtube.com/user/EligeVeganismo

Calves killed because of ‘wrong sex’

“Bet more would want them to be raised here, if only they would watch how they are killed, or listen to the poor mums, crying out for their newborn. Or watch the babies being loaded up for a long haul journey abroad, where many, don’t make it, due to their young age!! But most people just want to turn a blind eye & pretend it doesn’t happen, if they haven’t seen it, or have to think about it, they don’t feel so guilty eating it!”

“But the calf business is disgustingly cruel & heartbreaking. Some farmers wanted to push a rule through so they didn’t have to feed the poor babies, before their shipped to slaughter…cruel & callous or what…talk about bloody penny pinching. I’ll bet there are many veal farms who don’t feed the babies, who going to notice?? Please folks, if you can’t go without meat, just make sure it’s from the UK & from a “RSPCA Freedom Food Scheme” farm. I know, not all of them are as perfect as they make out, but there a hell of a lot better than those who don’t belong to the scheme!!”

About 100,000 dairy calves were killed last year just because they were the ’wrong sex’, new figures have revealed.

The statistics from The Calf Forum highlight that an estimated one in five bull dairy calves born in the Britain last year was killed on farm and a further 11,000 were shipped abroad because they cannot produce milk.

To tackle the numbers of calves killed on farm and the growing live transport trade the RSPCA is working with supermarkets, the farming industry and animal welfare groups to create a market to keep male dairy calves here – such as rearing them for British veal.

David Bowles, director of communications at the RSPCA, said “animal lovers are rightly angry when they see lorry loads of young calves being shipped abroad.”

“However, what many people do not realise is that nine times more calves are killed on farm just days after being born. They are the lost animals of the dairy industry.”

“Farmers don’t want these animals to be killed and neither do the RSPCA. We also don’t want to see them shipped abroad to potentially face long-journeys across Europe where they can be reared on farms without a properly nutritious diet or bedding to lie down on.

“We would much rather these calves reared for veal in the UK where legally they have to be given a proper diet and bedding.”

David Tory a dairy and veal farmer who is a member of the RSPCA’s Freedom Food scheme, has been educating shoppers that British veal calves are free to run around with pen mates and have a longer life than chicken, pigs, turkeys and lamb.

He said: “There is a lot of ignorance out there about British veal but once I’ve explain the facts, that there is a high welfare choice for veal, a vast majority of people are onside.

“Our veal calves have a very high quality of life – a good vaccination programme, high feed programme, deep bedding, low stocking density.”

Latest figures from The Calf Forum, which was set up by the RSPCA and CiWF, revealed that over the past five years, the work of the Forum has contributed to an increase in the numbers of dairy bull calves being reared in Britain and a drop in the percentage of those being killed on farm or shipped abroad.

However last year the percentage of calves killed on farm and being shipped abroad started to creep up again.

Dr Julia Wrathall, head of the RSPCA’s farm animal science department, said: “Part of the solution to this problem is for more people to choose to buy British veal, ideally Freedom Food veal which is from farms, hauliers and abattoirs inspected to RSPCA welfare standards.

“When properly run and managed, veal calf rearing systems in the UK can provide animals with a good quality of life. Due to the diet and lifestyle of the calves the meat produced under this system is darker pink rather than very pale in colour and is known as ros’ veal.”

News Link:-http://www.farminguk.com/news/Calves-killed-because-of-wrong-sex_23592.html

CALL FOR THE OIE TO TAKE THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES SERIOUSLY

Between the 20th and 25th May, Chief Veterinary Officers (CVOs) from across the world will meet in Paris for the 80th General Session of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE)

One of the key points for discussion is “the adoption of international standards regarding the safety of world trade in animals and animal products.”

The OIE is responsible for providing guidance on how to protect animals during transport and slaughter and to mediate in emergency animal welfare situations. Yet, in recent months, they have failed spectacularly in fulfilling this role, as was seen with the Gracia del Mar and the footage obtained by Compassion in World Farming from inside an Egyptian slaughterhouse, which was so horrific we couldn’t publish it on our website.

TAKE ACTION – we need 1,000s of supporters to send emails by Monday 21st May

Please send the OIE the email below calling on them to take greater responsibility for providing guidance on animal welfare issues and mediating between nations in the event of emergencies.

On Monday 21st May we will be writing to a number of Chief Veterinary Officers who are known to support moves to tighten and properly enforce guidelines on animal welfare. We will be asking these CVOs to speak out at the General Session and call for the OIE to take a more pro-active role.

To show the scale of support, we will tell them how many of our supporters have contacted the OIE. So please, take action today.

This is the email  (Please be aware that some people may find the descriptions of animal suffering in the email distressing. )

Dear Dr Vallat,

Compassion in World farming has just produced a new film entitled A Path to Better Futures?: the need for implementation of the OIE recommendations on animal welfare.

I understand that this film is too graphic to be released publically, but that it shows extremely disturbing footage of severe animal suffering taken in a number of countries – and makes it clear that there continue to be serious breaches of the OIE’s recommendations on welfare during transport and slaughter.

I understand the film includes footage of the following:

• Cattle in an Egyptian slaughterhouse being beaten – very hard – on the head with a large pole while other animals have their leg tendons slashed.
• Also in Egypt, cattle being stabbed repeatedly in the neck until finally they collapse to the ground.
• And, in Indonesia, live cattle being unloaded from a ship. A crane is used to hoist them – hanging by their heads in groups of three – from the ship to a waiting truck.

These are not isolated cases. Compassion in World Farming has in recent years told the OIE about cruel slaughter practices that are in breach of the OIE recommendations in a number of countries, including several in the Middle East, Indonesia and Turkey.

Moreover, a World Bank report reveals serious animal welfare problems in a range of countries across the world. The report contains a litany of suffering and concludes that animal welfare at all the slaughter facilities visited “requires significant improvement”.

I am aware that the OIE recognises the challenges faced by its Member countries but would urge the OIE to do more to help its Members to implement its recommendations. I am pleased that the OIE plans to appoint an Animal Welfare Coordinator to help with implementation of the OIE recommendations in Indonesia and neighbouring countries. However, clearly more than one person is needed to tackle these problems, which are prevalent in many parts of the world.

I welcome the planned OIE global conference on animal welfare in November in Malaysia. Please ensure that this is not just another ‘talking shop’. It is vital that it produces a strong commitment by countries to comply with the OIE recommendations – and a clear action plan as to how animal welfare across the world can be radically improved.

Yours sincerely,

Click here to send:–http://action.ciwf.org.uk/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=119&ea.campaign.id=14975&ea.url.id=89316&ea.campaigner.email=KmIGskm9q9s8Id8OlpmXxz%2BUx%2F5a9CUY&ea_broadcast_target_id=0

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INVESTIGATION: LIVE CALF EXPORTS FROM THE UK TO SPAIN

Earlier this year, when Joanna Lumley launched our bus advert campaign against live farm animal exports from the UK, she also announced our plan to trail a shipment of British calves to Europe.

Thanks to the generous response of supporters like you, we were able to follow through on this plan. So, today, I want to share the findings of our undercover investigation, and update you on our One Way Ticket campaign. Please bear with me – this will be a long email, but there is so much to tell you.

Can you help?

To mark one year since live exports began through Ramsgate, local campaigners are staging a rally in the town on 20th May. And, using the findings from our investigation, Compassion will again be backing the call for a complete end to this trade.

But we know that the buck doesn’t stop with UK politicians. We know that every year long distance transport causes immeasurable suffering to millions of farm animals, across Europe and around the world.

Please will you consider making a donation today? Your support could help us:

• Continue our face-to-face work across Europe, persuading policy-makers to acknowledge the cruelty of long distance transport.
• Step up the public pressure on the World Organisation for Animal Health, who recently so spectacularly failed to protect the hundreds of cows who died aboard the Gracia Del Mar.
• Demand tighter, properly enforced global regulation of animal transport to ensure that disasters like that on the Gracia Del Mar simply cannot happen again.

The good news is that, through the efforts of Compassion supporters and EU campaigners, over half of all MEPs recently signed Written Declaration 49/2011 on the transport of animals. This means that, in March 2012, an 8-hour limit on journey times was adopted as the official position of the European Parliament. Now, more than ever, we must keep up the pressure. We must persuade the European Commission to introduce legislation banning long distance transport. And then we must ensure that the rest of the world follows suit.

Together we can keep up the momentum. Together we can end the needless, desperately long journeys forced upon farm animals. With your donation, together, we can end this suffering

Exporting Calves to Cruelty: Ramsgate Investigation

Published on 9 May 2012 by CIWFFOOTAGE

In late 2011 Compassion in World Farming initiated a series of investigations into the export of live farm animals from the UK. And, in early 2012, generous donations from Compassion supporters enabled our team to continue the campaign, trailing a lorry carrying calves from the UK, through France and into Spain — simply to be fattened for the veal trade. These young calves were loaded on a farm in the west of England and transported, over a period of almost 60 hours, to a farm in northern Spain.

Find out more about the issues here: http://www.ciwf.org/transport

http://www.ciwf.org.uk/what_we_do/live_transport/investigation_live_calf_exports/default.aspx?appealcode=WE0512

Compassion in World Farming – Rabbits

Exposed: factory farming’s best kept secret

During a recent investigation, our team visited rabbit farms in France, Spain and Italy – where more than three quarters of all rabbit farming in the EU takes place.

Appalling suffering was documented; rabbits kept in tiny, bare wire cages, unable to move freely or express their natural desires to dig or hide. Rabbit faeces were built up under the cages – piled up to knee-height in places. And there were bins – full of dead rabbits.

Watch the ground breaking footage here. Please be aware it contains scenes of a distressing nature.

Compassion believes that if rabbits are to be farmed then we have a responsibility to ensure that they are kept in humane farming systems. All farm animals should be allowed to live a life free from pain and mental distress, and be able to express their natural behaviours.

Keeping thousands of rabbits in small, barren cages is completely unacceptable and we must stop the suffering. We banned the barren battery cage for hens and now we must do the same for rabbits.

Rabbit meat available in the UK, not labelled from a higher welfare system, is almost certainly inhumanely farmed. Please tell your friends not to buy it and help us spread awareness by sharing our film with your friends.

Help us start the Rabbit Revolution today

Currently, rabbits have no species specific protection under EU welfare laws and have been left out of an important part of the new EU slaughter regulations for 2013. This means these animals are totally vulnerable to the kind of horrific treatment we witnessed during our investigation. If you would like to see an end to this suffering then please help us with a donation today.

via Compassion in World Farming – Rabbits.

EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT

 Warning: some people may find this account distressing

“The lid of a bin was opened and inside was a mass of dead rabbits, no more than a few weeks old.

This was my first experience of an intensive rabbit farm and it came as a shock.

I was on a rabbit farm in a region of Spain well known for farming rabbits. The farm was ramshackle and just about standing up. Unlike some of the more industrial units I’d visit later into this investigation, this place was part open-sided, with plastic sheets used instead of concrete walls. Wire mesh cages were strewn about the place and guard dogs barked continuously in the hope of actually getting fed.

Part-exposed to the sun were rows of battery cages, not dissimilar to those previously used for egg laying hens which are now banned across the EU.

Bundles of white fluff were spilling out from the wire mesh of one barren battery cage but on closer inspection I could see it was 8 baby rabbits. The next cage was the same and the next…in fact; there was cage after cage crammed full of baby rabbits.

Dripping urine and rabbit faeces had built up underneath the cages…..mounds piled up knee-high in several sections and they looked like they’d not been cleaned out for weeks.

To read the rest of this post visit:-Eye Witness Account – Compassion in World Farming

Compassion in World Farming – Overwhelming response to Red Sea crisis

Compassion in World Farming is saying a huge thank you to its amazing supporters, who sent 40,000 emails in 40 hours to the Brazilian and Egyptian authorities and the World Animal Health Organisation, the OIE, in response to a live transport crisis on the Red Sea.

The terrible news of a stranded ship, the Gracia del Mar, with thousands of dead and dying cattle onboard, came through to us on Friday March 2nd. We were told the ship, which had around 2,750 dead cattle onboard, had been refused permission to unload at its Egyptian destination and had failed to find a port willing to take her.

Compassion launched an immediate investigation and raised the alarm with the authorities in Brazil, where the ship had come from, and Egypt, urging them to adhere to and live up to their responsibilities under the OIE regulations for animals in transport and sort the situation out quickly.

Compassion also alerted its committed supporters, who sprung into action lobbying the two governments and the OIE.

We now have a fuller picture of what happened on this tragic voyage that caused the needless death and suffering of thousands of animals.

We are told the Gracia Del Mar, carrying 5,600 cattle, was hit by a freezing snowstorm off the coast of Algeria and thousands of the animals succumbed to the cold. The ship continued to Egypt where it was refused permission to unload in Egypt and spent several days in the Red Sea, with the dead cattle still onboard, unable to find anywhere to dock.

We’ve since been told the remaining live cattle were transferred from the ship and taken to land. We are still trying to ascertain exactly where they were taken.

Of course, we believe that the root cause is long distance live transport itself. This archaic trade should not exist. That is why will will continue to fight to end it. With our amazing supporters, we are confident we can win – like the transporters themselves, we are in this for the long haul.

Take action:

Join thousands of supporters who have urged the OIE to take action to ensure this sort of situation cannot happen again >>

via Compassion in World Farming – Overwhelming response to Red Sea crisis.

Campaigning for farm animal welfare – Compassion in World Farming

Dying cattle are stranded at sea; more than 2750 are already dead. We must take urgent action now to end this welfare disaster.

The Gracia Del Mar set out from Brazil, bound for Egypt with thousands of cattle on board. It is currently in the Red Sea area, near Eritrea. The ship has had an engine failure which has led to a failure in the ventilation system.

Reports suggest that more than 2,750 cattle are already dead, and the situation is worsening with every hour that passes. The ship has attempted to dock at a number of ports, including

its destination port in Egypt, but has been turned away due to the number of dead and dying cattle. Reports suggest conditions on board are desperate.

The Brazilian and Egyptian authorities must take urgent action today to end this major welfare disaster. Not only is it their responsibility to do so, but they have the resources to provide the support and veterinary expertise so urgently needed.

Please send the email below to the Brazilian and Egyptian Agriculture Ministers calling on them to fulfil their responsibilities. They need to get the ship docked, get treatment to any surviving animals and bring this disaster to a close.

via Campaigning for farm animal welfare – Compassion in World Farming.