Posted on 2014-10-20 | 12:09

Roger has pledged his support to the campaign for mandatory CCTV inside UK slaughterhouses. The campaign – which is now supported by 159 MPs – was launched after a three-year investigation by Animal Aid revealed widespread breaches of welfare laws.

Slaughterhouse workers were filmed: kicking, punching and beating animals; burning them with cigarettes; picking them up by their fleeces and throwing them into stunning pens; and dragging them by their ears. Animal Aid also recorded animals being improperly stunned and coming round again, and suffering painful electrocution instead of being stunned. Roger signed a parliamentary motion (an Early Day Motion) calling for mandatory CCTV to monitor working practices inside UK slaughterhouses and reiterated his support by agreeing to be photographed with a campaign banner.

Says Roger: ‘There can be no excuse for cruelty to animals. It is utterly unacceptable for animals to be mistreated in this way, particularly in a country where there is a public consensus around the importance of animal welfare. I therefore support Animal Aid’s campaign to install CCTV in all slaughterhouses, to ensure that this abuse does not continue and those who carry it out are brought to justice. Unfortunately, this is a by-product of the factory farming system, where animals are treated as commodities to be produced as cheaply as possible rather than as living creatures which should not be made to suffer. We need to re-think the way animals are treated to ensure that this kind of gratuitous cruelty stops now.’

Says Kate Fowler, Head of Campaigns with Animal Aid: ‘There is no excuse for the savagery we filmed inside some slaughterhouses, and yet it went on right under the noses of vets stationed there to monitor welfare. Clearly, we need a more robust regulatory system, and CCTV can play an important part in deterring and detecting welfare breaches. We are very grateful for the support of Mr Godsiff and his compassionate colleagues.’

In a 2014 YouGov poll commissioned by Animal Aid, 76 per cent of British adults support CCTV being made mandatory in all UK slaughterhouses (with independent monitoring of the footage). When taking into consideration only those who expressed a view, that figure rose to 87 per cent. A petition on the government’s Number 10 website has already attracted more than 36,000 signatures. It can be found at http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/64997