Excellent news! Animal Aid has reported that despite the government being reluctant to encourage slaughterhouses to install CCTV, supermarkets Morrisons, Waitrose, Sainsbury's, the Co-op, Asda, Lidl, Tesco, Iceland, Marks & Spencer and the wholesalers Booker, have all agreed to only deal with slaughterhouses that have independently monitored CCTV cameras installed.
Animal Aid is now working with the supermarket chains to ensure that the footage taken is monitored properly and that any incidents that break the law are dealt with effectively.
Do you remember back in November when we were contacting the supermarkets to ask them to consider this? Isn't it great to have a success!
Animal Aid reports that one slaughterhouse has actually closed down due to their exposé which also resulted into legal action against nine workers and four slaughterhouse operators. The case was dropped in September 2010 by Defra but most of the workers will not be allowed to slaughter again.
Another positive development is that the University of Bristol are using the footage obtained in order to train vets and Soil Association inspectors and government agencies and veterinary bodies are discussing how to implement changes to improve animal welfare in slaughterhouses.
This campaign has brought the horror of slaughter to the attention of the public and has also encouraged many people to adopt a meat free diet.
