Today is the start of the pheasant killing season
From today, millions of mass-produced, often factory-farmed, pheasants will be targets for shooters.
Posted 01 Oct 2024
Posted on the 1st September 2017
The government recently launched a consultation on making CCTV mandatory for all slaughterhouses in England. While slaughter can never be cruelty-free, these plans will make a huge difference in protecting animals from illegal violence.
The government is inviting interested parties to submit their responses to the consultation, which Animal Aid has done, and which you can do, too!
The plans set out by the government are encouraging, but there is one key area where we would like to see improvement – provision for a proper system of independent monitoring of the footage. We are also asking respondents to support the rest of the proposals to ensure that the industry does not get them watered down. We know it will try.
The consultation itself is simple and brief. There are just nine questions relating to the subject, and many – including ‘Should there be mandatory CCTV recording in all approved slaughterhouses in areas where live animals are present?’ – have Yes / No answers.
Since duplicate responses may not count individually, we haven’t produced text you can simply send, but we have provided some information that you can use to guide your responses.
If you are short of time, please answer ‘Yes’ to Question 4, and adapt/include this text in your answer to Question 7:
Otherwise, please see below for guidance on the rest of the questions.
Within the consultation feedback process, it is possible to attach links to reports. We would suggest that you may like to include the following:
You’ll find the consultation here: https://consult.defra.gov.uk/farm-animal-welfare/cctv-in-slaughterhouses It closes on 21st September 2017.
Question 1. Name Question 2. Address Question 3. Organisation (if you are part of one/ or simply answer N/A or ‘individual’ if you are an individual responding).
Question 4. Should there be mandatory CCTV recording in all approved slaughterhouses in areas where live animals are present? Please give reasons for your response.
Yes.
The voluntary system of installation of CCTV in slaughterhouses is not working and by the government’s own admission, between 2011-13 there was a voluntary increase in uptake and from 2013 onwards this has since plateaued.
Question 5. Is it reasonable to require Food Business Operators to retain CCTV footage for 90 days? Please give reasons for your response.
 Yes
Question 6. If you believe the 90-day retention period to be unreasonable what is a reasonable retention period for CCTV footage? Please give reasons for your response.
N/A
Question 7. Should there be unfettered access to CCTV footage, both real time and stored, for authorised officers, e.g. Official Veterinarians of the Food Standards Agency? Please give reasons for your response.
Yes
Additional information that you may care to include under this heading:
Question 8. What are your views on the possible costs and benefits of these proposed reforms, as set out in the internal Impact Assessment? Please provide evidence to support your response.
Question 9. Are there other potential economic benefits or costs not set out in the Impact Assessment? Please provide evidence to support your response.
N/A
Question 10. Should CCTV be installed in all approved slaughterhouses, regardless of size? Please provide justification for your response.
Yes.
Question 11. What do you think Government could do to help small businesses comply? Please provide justification for your response.
Question 12. Have we identified the main potential animal welfare gains from CCTV in slaughterhouses?
Yes, but there are other gains, too, including:
Thank you for speaking out against slaughterhouse abuse. If you’re not already vegan, please order your free information pack today.
From today, millions of mass-produced, often factory-farmed, pheasants will be targets for shooters.
Posted 01 Oct 2024
Posted 24 Sep 2024