Keir Starmer, you must end public funding for slaughterhouses!

Send our urgent letter to Sir Keir Starmer, the UK Prime Minister, to demand an immediate end to taxpayers’ money funding the slaughter of animals in abattoirs across the nation.

Animal Justice Project’s numerous investigations inside UK slaughterhouses have shown systemic failings; the system is designed to fail animals. No level of reformation or improvement will ever create meaningful changes, and animals will continue to suffer en masse. With legislation breaches the norm, the government must end the funding and, in the long-term, create an Action Plan to allow abattoir owners to leave the industry.

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Sir

Keir

Starmer

UK Government

Dear The Rt Hon Keir Starmer, Prime Minister,

cc: The Rt Hon Steve Reed, Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Over the past five years, Animal Justice Project has shown the systemic failings of slaughterhouses in the UK, including RSPCA Assured facilities. Ranging from small, family-run abattoirs to those of industrial scale, the findings repeatedly reveal the same atrocities: Legal breaches, a culture of violence and an obvious disregard for animals’ well-being. Slaughterhouses should not be facilities that receive public funding. Taxpayers should not have to give over their hard-earned money for it to be channelled into an industry built from violence and death. Despite this, since December 2023, slaughterhouses have received two large funding packages totalling £7 million of taxpayers’ money. This is unacceptable.

Since 2019, Animal Justice Project has highlighted systemic failures, widespread abuse and dozens of legal breaches at five slaughterhouses. Across these five abattoirs, animals were beaten, mishandled and even died before reaching the slaughter line, with the findings in full view of the abattoir’s own CCTV and in the presence of Food Standards Agency-appointed Official Veterinarians. Mandatory CCTV inside abattoirs has not resulted in higher welfare; it does not act as a deterrent for abuse, and it will not protect animals. Higher welfare assurance labels like RSPCA Assured do not result in meaningful improvements, either. A shift away from this industry is needed, along with a more responsible use of public money.

The following five facilities were investigated, revealing a system that was designed to fail animals:

1. Pastures Poultry, Northamptonshire, 2019
Turkeys were plucked alive; terrified chickens entered scalding tanks conscious; guinea fowls’ feathers were ripped out whilst they were conscious; birds were killed in full view of others waiting to be slaughtered.

2. Gressingham Foods, Norfolk, 2019
Ducks were slammed into metal shackles; birds were grabbed by their legs, necks and wings; workers argued and shouted at each other whilst roughly shackling birds; ducks were left hanging upside down in shackles for 14 minutes – seven times the legal limit; others arrived injured, bleeding or dead.

3. G. & G. B. Hewitt, Cheshire, 2020
Two bulls were beaten with pointed sticks and electric prods in the lairage for 40 minutes before being shot; piglets had their throats cut and were thrown onto a pile before being slung into a scalding tank; animals were stunned for too short a time, and others waited to have their throats cut after stunning for too long – both leading to conscious animals having their throats cut; conscious pigs had their ankles cut during ‘dressing’; stunning equipment repeatedly failed; workers hit, grabbed and slammed animals awaiting their deaths.

4. Woodhead Bros, Lincolnshire, 2023
Terrified pigs were repeatedly hit with paddles; sick, lame and injured pigs were transported for slaughter; electric prods were used on cows; vets failed to act as workers breached legislation.

5. C&K Meats, Suffolk, 2023
Pigs arrived with many health issues, including bite marks, hernias, ear injuries, head wounds, pressure sores, overgrown feet and bloody vulvas; holding pens were overcrowded, exceeding the stated capacity; heat-stressed pigs arrived desperate for water; pigs arrived dead inside transporters; downed pigs were shot in front of other live pigs who were later forced to walk by their writhing, bleeding bodies.

These incidents were filmed over periods from just 24 hours to multiple weeks. These grotesque abuses are common. The high level of breaches caught on camera does not match the low-level non-compliance report data released by the Food Standards Agency, reflecting that the in-house reporting system is failing. It needs to be reiterated that the findings above were in full view of the companies’ own CCTV.

Not only are slaughterhouses a horrifying experience for animals, but humans, too. Workers are at increased risk of mental health issues: Anxiety, depression, aggression, PTSD and psychoticism. Other social issues also rise, including crime and domestic violence. No person should be subjected to these environments for the sake of a company’s profits.

All slaughterhouses are rife with non-compliances and abuse. Even the most basic legislation (which wholly does not protect animals) is not being met. Small or large, abattoirs fail animals and should not be receiving public money. Therefore, I call on you to end the public funding of slaughterhouses and create an action plan to allow abattoir owners to leave the industry, which is a much-needed step toward social progress and the betterment of the UK. With 243 slaughterhouses operating in 2023, all of which will need your support to change to non-violent business, the time to act is NOW!

Yours sincerely,

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