The terrifying final moments faced by pigs and cows at Woodhead Bros slaughterhouse in Spalding, Lincolnshire, have been revealed by our undercover worker, filmed in late 2022. The site is one of three Morrisons abattoirs in the UK and together they kill 3,800 cows, 11,000 lambs and 30,000 pigs every week. Morrisons was the first supermarket to install CCTV inside their abattoirs to “reassure the public of good welfare practice at slaughter”, but our undercover agent caught workers repeatedly abusing pigs and cows, using electric prods, all whilst in the presence of ‘Official Veterinarians’ (OVs).
Official Veterinarians, appointed by the Food Standards Agency (FSA), are inside abattoirs as another tool to supposedly ‘protect’ animals. Yet, our cameras caught vets failing to act as animals were hit with paddles, pigs arrived severely lame and others were so distressed and panicked that they collapsed in respiratory distress. Pigs were repeatedly struck with paddles, even when they were unable to move forward, causing them to try to climb over each other and fall over. They were hit in their faces, on their delicate snouts, hindquarters and backs.
“The fact that all of this abuse is overseen by vets who were employed by the slaughterhouse just brings home how ingrained this abuse is.” – Undercover Investigator
In short, no. CCTV is evidently failing to detect and rectify many of the horrors at the time of killing.
The grotesque abuse filmed by our undercover worker was all caught on CCTV, but who’s actually watching the recordings? The FSA has access to what is filmed, but CCTV footage is not randomly or routinely seized from slaughterhouses. It is there to maintain reassurance of ‘good welfare’ to paying customers and not actually to ‘protect’ animals, as claimed. Footage is also deleted after just three months. Audits by the FSA are announced, giving slaughterhouses fair warning to comply with standards. Woodhead Bros in Spalding received a ‘good’ rating in their last audit, the highest possible score. This rating is in stark contrast to what our undercover worker caught on camera.
Despite the FSA giving this abattoir a rating that reflects “no issues of significance”, we captured ongoing breaches of laws including slaughter legislation like The Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (WATOK) and the DEFRA Codes of Practice. Despite their names, each piece of legislation is in place to aid and complement the exploitation and killing of animals, and will never ‘protect’ them.
In the time that it takes you to read this page, over 200 pigs will have been pushed into gas chambers in the UK. Around 10 million pigs are killed in the UK each year and 86% are gassed; that's almost nine million individuals who face the gas chambers of a ‘gondola’. Gassing is a stunning method used on pigs and is also commonly used to stun and kill birds. The animals are trapped in an environment where the oxygen levels are dropped very low and other gasses like carbon dioxide are pumped in.
“It [pigs being gassed] was far beyond the terror that they were already feeling. It's like nothing I'd heard before” – Undercover Investigator
It has been known for many years that this method of stunning pigs causes untold pain, yet it continues to be the most popular method for slaughterhouses. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) stated it “causes pain, fear, and respiratory distress” and even DEFRA made the same claim.
“It's been studied and proven to be aversive, which means that when that gas hits it's painful in their lungs, it feels like a burning sensation, and they're suffocating as well” – Dr Alice Brough BVM&S MRCVS
‘Non-compliances’ are breaches that may affect animal or public health. They can include lameness, injury and even dead animals. In 2022, 4,310 non-compliances were reported, affecting 902,412 animals. Of these, only 16 were referred for investigation. That’s a mere 0.37%. Our undercover investigations show time and time again an abundance of legislation and guideline breaches, yet this is not reflected in the data. Pigs arrived dead at Woodhead Bros and others were so lame that they were killed before reaching the gas chambers.
Within the time that our undercover worker was present at Woodhead Bros, animals were verbally and physically abused, sworn and aggressively shouted at, pigs showed severe lameness, had large hernias and had acute respiratory distress, panicked cows were hit and had electric prods used on them. Non-compliances were evident, abundant and largely ignored by officials.
With unwatched CCTV, vets ignoring clear violations, audits not reflecting the reality of day-to-day slaughterhouse activity and the severe under-reporting of non-compliances, it is clear that the system is not broken, but is designed to fail animals, protect profit and maintain abuse.
Any form of exploitation of animals will bring suffering. Profits will always be at the forefront of these industries and slaughterhouses are no different. The smokescreens used within abattoirs are yet another reason why we must be vegan and actively reduce our reliance on harming other beings. In the past decade, red meat consumption (per person) has plummeted by 37%! Your choices today can and will make an impact tomorrow. YOU can make a difference to so many animals.
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