The day when slaughterhouses will be compelled to fit independently-monitored CCTV cameras has moved a step closer this week, as Sir David became one of 100 MP’s to have signed a parliamentary motion in support of the move. In total, four East of England MPs have signalled their support for the campaign. They are: Sir David Amess (Southend West); Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North); Daniel Zeichner (Cambridge); and Clive Lewis (Norwich South).
Early Day Motion 153 was tabled by Easington MP Grahame Morris and now has the support of MP’s from across the political spectrum. The campaign is also supported by more than half of all Welsh Assembly Members.
Animal Aid’s call for mandatory CCTV began in 2009 when the campaign group first placed fly-on-the-wall cameras inside UK slaughterhouses. Over the past six years, the hidden cameras have revealed that nine of the ten randomly chosen slaughterhouses were breaking animal welfare laws. They recorded: animals being kicked, slapped, stamped on, and picked up by fleeces, legs and ears and thrown into stunning pens; and animals being improperly stunned and coming round again, or suffering painful and sadistic electrocution instead of being stunned. In one non-stun slaughterhouses, the conscious animals’ throats were hacked at with a blunt knife. Elsewhere, animals were punched in the face, had shackle hooks embedded in their heads, and were mocked and tormented as they suffered abuse. In March 2012, two men were jailed for beating and burning pigs with cigarettes as a result of Animal Aid’s footage.
The campaign for mandatory CCTV with independent monitoring of the footage is widely supported. As well as the public showing their strong support via a YouGov poll and a Number 10 petition,* it has the backing of the union representing meat hygiene inspectors and slaughterhouse vets, UNISON; vets including Emma Milne, Pete Wedderburn and Marc Abraham; animal protection groups such as the RSPCA and Compassion in World Farming; as well as MPs from across the political spectrum.
The ten leading supermarkets, along with Booker and Freedom Food, all insist that their slaughterhouse suppliers have CCTV cameras fitted but the footage is not yet monitored thoroughly by an independent body that can take robust action should welfare breaches be revealed.
Sir David said: “Over my time in Parliament I have shown a very keen interest in ensuring that the welfare of animals is an issue that parliament takes very seriously. That is why I am very much in favour of CCTV cameras being installed in abattoirs across the country. It is my firm belief that by placing CCTV in slaughterhouses, this country will go further in ensuring the protection of farm animals who are being slaughtered for consumption.”
Says Animal Aid’s Slaughter Consultant, Kate Fowler: ‘There is no excuse for the savagery we filmed inside slaughterhouses, and yet it went on right under the noses of vets who are stationed there to monitor welfare. Currently, taxpayers are charged millions of pounds every year for a welfare system that is failing animals. Clearly, things must change. We need a more robust system, and CCTV – if independently monitored – can play an important part in deterring and detecting welfare breaches. We are very grateful for the support of these compassionate MPs, who can see that action must be taken to hold the industry properly to account.’