I have just watched the most distressing film I’ve ever seen in my 20 plus years working in the field of animal welfare. It’s our new film entitled A Path to Better Futures? – the need for implementation of the OIE recommendations on animal welfare.
The film was shot in three countries but I fear that the suffering it portrays can be found across much of the world.
The new film
In Egypt we see slaughtermen severing the leg tendons of cattle with a knife in order to make them easier to control. This and everything else shown in the film is in breach of the recommendations on welfare during transport and slaughter of the OIE – also known as the World Organisation for Animal Health.
In a Turkish abattoir a shackle is attached to the rear leg of sheep and they are hoisted – hanging upside down and struggling – to the killing rail. Although we did not use it in the film, we have similar footage from Indonesia. Cattle are winched up by a rear leg and end up dangling upside down in readiness for throat-cutting.
In Egypt cattle are beaten on the head with a large pole. In some cases it takes several blows before the animal is so dazed that it falls to the ground when its throat is then cut.
In Indonesia we see cattle being unloaded after a four day sea journey from one of the islands. The animals are alive and conscious. A crane is used to hoist them – hanging by their heads in groups of three – from the ship to a waiting truck.
In some Egyptian abattoirs the slaughtermen do not perform a proper full cut across the throat which would produce rapid death. Instead they simply stab the knife into the neck. Even after several such stabs, the animals remain standing on all four legs while they slowly bleed from the neck. Eventually – sometimes minutes after the first stab – the animals collapse to the ground.
In Turkey a cow is slaughtered. She is then cut open while she is probably still conscious. To our horror, we see a calf emerging from the slaughtered animal. He’s clearly alive. After just two minutes of life, he’s killed. And then chucked into the rubbish chute.
Harrowing though the film is, we have omitted some even worse footage that we have for fear that this would have made it even more difficult to view.
So what can we do?
It’s no good just blaming these countries. They probably simply don’t know where to start in the task of improving their transport and slaughter operations. They need to be given help and advice – with training, with abattoir infrastructure and equipment as well as with incorporation of the OIE recommendations into their own legislation. They need to be shown that better welfare, improved hygiene and worker safety go hand in hand.
Three international institutions can help to end the terrible suffering highlighted in the film. The OIE’s recommendations on transport and slaughter are quite good bearing in mind that they had to be agreed by the OIE’s 178 member countries. The OIE has recently been showing an enhanced commitment to securing implementation of its recommendations. At its annual General Session last week, OIE Director-General Dr Vallat stressed in strong terms the need for countries to respect the animal welfare recommendations. Also it has just appointed an Animal Welfare Coordinator to work in Indonesia and neighbouring countries. This is extremely welcome. We now need the OIE to take further steps to encourage and help its members to improve welfare during transport and slaughter.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) already produces a valuable internet Gateway to Farm Animal Welfare. We believe that the FAO may now be prepared to help improve welfare at slaughter.
A 2009 study carried out for the World Bank in five countries in different regions of the world reveals cruel transport and slaughter practices to be commonplace. The study makes heart-rending reading and condemns the “abject failure” of slaughterhouses to achieve acceptable welfare standards. Regrettably, the World Bank has so far not taken any effective action to tackle these problems. We believe that the World Bank must now help finance improvements in slaughterhouses in a range of countries.
The European Commission too has a part to play. Through its European Neighbourhood Policy the EU works closely with 16 countries located to the east of Europe as well as in the Middle East and North Africa. The Commission should now give a high priority to assisting these countries with animal welfare, for example by helping to finance OIE and FAO initiatives designed to improve welfare.
And of course animal welfare organisations throughout the world are already working to help countries comply with the OIE recommendations.
Clearly all of us –the OIE, the FAO, the World Bank and animal welfare charities – must now ramp up our efforts to ensure that the terrible cruelty shown in our film is brought to a rapid end.
WARNING: THE FOOTAGE ON THE LINK BELOW CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES THAT ARE DISTURBING AND DIFFICULT TO WATCH. NOT SUITABLE FOR UNDER 18s.
You can view the 6 minute film here.
If you’d like to help, please write to Commissioner Dalli who is responsible for animal welfare at the European Commission. I must stress that the problems I’ve described are not the EU’s fault. Please alert the Commissioner to the suffering shown in our film. Urge him to work with the OIE and the FAO to help developing countries implement the OIE recommendations on animal welfare during transport and slaughter. Also ask him to liaise with Commissioner Füle, who is responsible for the European Neighbourhood Policy, as it would be most welcome if it could help fund initiatives to improve animal welfare in the countries covered by that Policy. Commissioner Dalli’s address is Commissioner for Health and Consumers, European Commission, B-1049 Brussels, Belgium – or cab-dalli-webpage {at} ec.europa(.)eu.
All I can say is that “food that is the product of cruelty is unfit for human consumption”.
Cruelty, in any form, cannot be condoned in civilized society.