After our investigation footage of AD Harvey's catching teams shocked the nation last autumn, RSPCA Assured has confirmed that they have reinstated them with their assurance logo. London Post reported on the reinstatement this morning, adding to the wave of negative press the RSPCA has received in the last couple of days, including the resignation of its Vice President, Brian May, over the failures of RSPCA Assured.

An RSPCA Assured spokesperson said: “The company has made significant changes to improve bird welfare since October 2023. We are fully satisfied they are now meeting all of the relevant RSPCA welfare standards and they have successfully passed an assessment, by our specially trained assessors, to rejoin RSPCA Assured.”

Horrific treatment and handling

In 2023, our investigator embedded themselves with ‘chicken processing specialists’, AD Harvey, whilst they visited egg farms to carry out a wickedly-cruel process called ‘depopulation’. What they uncovered was harrowing.

In the aftermath of the catching process, in which workers breached an unfathomable number of RSPCA guidelines and pieces of legislation, we filmed hens severely injured, stunned and left for dead on the shed floors. Hens were seen trying to move with damaged legs and wings. Some didn’t move at all. Others were slammed into plastic crates, trapping their heads, wings and legs. Workers were even filmed kicking, crushing and throwing the fragile ‘end-of-lay’ hens. Now, RSPCA Assured has allowed its name to be used by the violent company once again.

RSPCA Assured also said that AD Harvey’s membership will be subject to strict extra conditions, including unannounced annual assessments and additional unannounced checks throughout the year. RSPCA Assured say they “are duty-bound to help improve the welfare of farm animals, and that means helping those who have got it wrong to make things right for the benefit of the animals.”

This simply isn’t good enough

Regardless of this welfare-washing, hens will still meet a gruesome end. Does RSPCA Assured think life has actually improved for these hens now the catching gang is back on the scheme? The only way such improvement would occur is if the hens weren’t being exploited in the first place. 

In a PR move, RSPCA Assured are now investigating 200 farms that are on their scheme. We question their ability to impartially inspect these farms. Time and time again, our investigations have shown exactly what the RSPCA Assured scheme looks like for the animals trapped in the industry. If the RSPCA really cared about animals, they would drop RSPCA Assured and join us in advocating for a plant-based future.

With your support, we will continue our investigations into welfare scheme failures. Together, we can show the public precisely why they don't work, and why the only answer is to choose vegan. 

As always,

for the animals!