Inspectors from Eyes on Animals were busy checking on the welfare conditions of animals raised on a farm that claims to be welfare friendly. Sadly, this was not the case. More and more supermarkets and labels are claiming that their meat and dairy products are "welfare-friendly" when really this is a great exaggeration. In fact, only tiny improvements (and often of only a small significance to the animal) have been made to the housing systems for the animals. The animals still perform stereotypical behaviour from boredom and stress. Eyes on Animals does strongly encourage every little step in the right direction to decrease suffering, but strongly disapproves of false advertisement. We are now considering how we can make producers and supermarkets own up to their claims, and get real significant improvements for animals. Eyes on Animals is in touch with the farmer and is proposing ideas to implement on his farm to reduce boredom.
Eyes on Animals -
15.02.2010 Inspection of welfare conditions at farms
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FARMS
Laws are in place to ensure that animals have a minimum amount of space, lighting, feed and fresh water. But farm animals are more complicated than this; they have strong desires to express their natural behaviours and range of emotions. These are largely restricted on most industrial farms, leading to mental suffering such as boredom and extreme frustration. Another welfare issue common on farms is the animal health and the quality of the environment. The barn should be clean from parasites and drafts, and sick and injured animals need to be separated and treated in a timely manner. Unfortunately this is not always the case. Eyes on Animals regularly visits farms, both large and small, free-range and industrial, to check on the general condition of the animals and the housing environment. We compare what we observe with the requirements set in the national and EU regulations. We discuss with farmers if improvements are needed and how they can be achieved.