Dear donors and friends,
In recent weeks we gave a voice to the millions
of animals that are transported and slaughtered annually. At the OIE international conference in Mexico we gave a poster-presentation
to dozens of veterinarians and control bodies around the world about
the appalling conditions in which animals die in slaughterhouses. We
were also at the World
Halal Summit in Istanbul to speak with religious leaders about the possibilities to stun animals before slaughter.
Furthermore, we had a promising talk with Migros,
the largest supermarket chain in Turkey,
about the possibilities to train the staff to audit the slaughterhouses
supplying meat to them and we were in Brussels several times to assist
the European Commission in the development
of good and best-practices for livestock transport.
Obviously
our inspections continued unabated: we recently inspected a large pig
slaughterhouse in Germany which was in the middle of renovating. This
allowed
our welfare advice to be directly included in the new building plans. Read the inspection report here
Also,
we were back checking on the horsemarket in Zuidlaren this
year. This time, fortunately, the horses were no longer next to the
loud fairground with blasting music and drunk people. However, the new
fenced-in location was much too small which led to huge crowds
between the horses during the day. We are working hard on the horse
market problems. Read the inspection report
And further:
⚫
An international campaign has been launched against long-distance
transport of animals for slaughter using Eyes on Animals footage taken
from the field. Join
the campaign
⚫ A wonderful article about our horse inspections has been published in the journal Freedom Rider. Read
the document here (available only in Dutch)
⚫ We published an in-depth document on how to reduce the suffering of chickens in slaughterhouses. This
report will be sent to poultry slaughterhouses throughout Europe and abroad. See
the report here
⚫
We are working on an educational brochure for chicken-catchers. This
brochure will be used during the training courses we now give to
chicken-
catchers to reduce the suffering of chickens during catching and
loading and to encourage the alternative and more humane Swedish
catching-method (upright with support below the chest instead of hung
upside down by the legs).
⚫
On January 18th at 19:00 we will be giving a talk at the Organic Food
Exhibition in Zwolle about the current cruel
chicken-catching methods used even in the organic sector and
illustrating the "Swedish catching-method" as a way forward for the
organic egg and poultry industry to adopt! You are welcome to come and
see us talk! For more information
⚫
Scientific research into humane gas alternatives to CO2 for
stunning of slaughter pigs is in full swing and, after initiating this
research, we are obviously staying on top of this with regular
communication with the scientists and funders.
⚫ We are in touch with the
Rabobank about getting more humane slaughter systems in place at the
chicken farms they helped finance in Ukraine. The talks are going well
and we have
good faith that new plants set up will use the most up to date
technology, not requiring birds to be live shackled anymore.
⚫
We have been invited
to inspect two slaughterhouses in Austria and provide input for
improvements to reduce stress and slaughter. This will happen in late
January.
