A Compassionate World

Over the past year, thanks to our incredible supporters, we’ve been able to achieve so much for farm animals across the world. Here are just some of our highlights:

• Our ground-breaking study demonstrated that we don’t need factory farming to feed the world.

• 60,000 calves were saved from being shot at birth or exported in the year to May 2009, as a result of our partnership with the food and farming industry.

• Over 20 million hens are now living a cage-free life thanks to the policies of our Good Egg Award winners…

• …Sainsbury’s, the UK’s third-largest supermarket, went cage-free on its shell eggs a year earlier than promised…

• …and the 50th UK council went cage-free on its egg procurement.

• The Chicken Out! Campaign, led by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Compassion, now has over 167,800 supporters.

• Following pressure from supporters of Compassion and Chicken Out!, Defra announced that it won’t be making life even worse for meat chickens by increasing maximum stocking densities to levels permitted in Europe.

• Over 40% of MPs supported our parliamentary motion calling for higher welfare standards and more honest labelling on chicken meat, putting it in the top 5 of MPs’ concerns.

• On pigs, we prompted the European Commission to focus on enforcement of the ban on routine tail-docking following our investigation which showed the majority of the European industry is still ignoring the ban on this serious mutilation.

• Our complaint to the ASA resulted in adverts by the pork industry being banned for misleading the public over claims of “very high welfare standards”…

• …and our ad on the tooth-clipping of piglets prompted a leading industry journal to discourage this painful mutilation.

• Celtic Link announced that they would cease to carry live animal exports on their ferries following a barrage of letters from Compassion supporters and protests at Portsmouth docks.

• Campaigning by our supporters helped bring the world’s attention to the horrendous slaughter of an estimated 160,000 pigs in Egypt, spurred the world’s animal health organisation (OIE) into action, and put pressure on the Egyptian government for a change in welfare legislation.

• Our lobbying at the European Parliament helped achieve an overwhelming majority vote against cloning of farm animals for food.

• Our historic achievement in getting animals recognised as sentient beings in Europe gained greater weight this year when it became enshrined in a dedicated ‘Article’ within The Lisbon Treaty.

• Sales of free-range and higher welfare food continued to rise, despite the recession.

You made all this possible. It’s only thanks to the dedication and generosity of our supporters like you that we can bring about real change for millions of farm animals.

Thank you for joining us in our quest to make factory farming a thing of the past.

Thank you for being part of the organisation that gets things done.

Inspired by our supporters’ stories, our very own trustee, Jeremy Hayward, recited Gerard Manley Hopkins’, The Windhover, to raise much-needed funds for Compassion. His choice of poem about that masterful bird, the kestrel, reminded me of one of the most profound experiences of my recent years.

It all happened when I got a phone call from a stranger – not far from the house of Compassion’s founder in Hampshire – asking for help.

A storm had ravaged and a mystery bird had been injured. So I sped off to rescue said bird, and on arriving, I found that the strangers (plural as they were by then) were a young man and woman who were lovingly tending to a beautiful, if somewhat dishevelled, kestrel. The bird didn’t have an obvious break of any sort but had clearly done something bad as it couldn’t fly. Anyway, off I went with the kestrel in the back of the car, and deposited the bird in the expert hands of a local wildlife hospital.

Weeks went by before I got a call to pick up the bird and take him back to the place where he was found. I did take the bird back, but all did not go well. Weeks of rehab had not gotten a good result. My heart sank as the bird dropped to the floor. I tried repeatedly to get him to fly, all to no avail. But, with a combination of hopping and flapping, he could move across the ground pretty fast. And he did! Across the field, down a lane, up a bank, down again, and all with me in hot, panicky pursuit. Anyhow, with my heart beating for fear of losing him to an inevitable end (probably by a fox), I managed eventually to catch him. Back in his box he went. And back to the wildlife hospital I went.

Months went by before I got the call to come and pick up our friend again. This time, I was told in no uncertain terms that if he didn’t ‘go’ this time then they’d have to put him down. I took him back to the field near our founder’s house. I lovingly wished him luck. I held out my hand and we both looked to the sky. He opened his wings, reluctantly launched himself forward and then just dipped toward the floor, with my heart plummeting after him. But then, as if by some guiding hand, his wings found strength. He flew in level flight away from me before gaining height and more height till he was above the tree tops and away, away until just a speck in the distance! And I can tell you, as he went I just leapt and leapt and cheered and cheered! I cannot describe the feeling. Even now as I write this, I can feel it. Just immense joy at having helped bring freedom and a new chapter to the life of something so amazing as a kestrel. That bird touched my life like no other.

It also reminded me that we can all touch the lives of others every day. By joining in with the work of Compassion, we can create real change for sentient creatures like battery hens. Together, we can help hens out of cages; where they can stretch their wings and feel the wind of change on their back. Click here for ideas on how to help.