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Category: animal welfare

  • Protesters dressed as chickens mimic battery farm in a Morrisons foyer

    Animal rights group Open Cages has staged an in-store protest at a Morrisons in Wood Green, London. The protest was the largest of its kind for the group.

    It was aimed at “eliminating cruelty from the UK’s chicken industry”. Open Cages claims that the supermarket chain’s chickens are not being kept in cruelty-free conditions.

    Morrisons: activists squeezed in like chickens

    Referring to it as a protest of “unprecedented scale”, Open Cages said:

    Shutting down the store’s entrance, the activists have ‘squeezed’ into the narrow lobby to highlight how chickens sold in Morrisons are typically raised in overcrowded sheds with less than an A4 sheet of space each in their final weeks of life

    People dressed in chicken costumes against a Morrisons sign

    The protest took place on Saturday 25 March and involved 60 activists. In a press release, Open Cages said a number of animal rights groups are calling on Morrisons to sign the Better Chicken Commitment (BCC):

    Open Cages, the RSPCA, Compassion In World Farming, The Humane League UK and many other leading animal protection charities want Morrisons to sign the Better Chicken Commitment (BCC) in order to address the ‘extreme suffering‘ faced by the retailer’s basic label chickens.

    People in chicken costumes protesting inside a Morrisons store

    The group added:

    More than 300 companies in Britain have already signed the BCC, including retailers Marks and Spencer & Waitrose and major fast food players such as KFC, Subway and Domino’s Pizza.

    Morrisons’ animal welfare policy permits chickens to be kept in conditions of up to 19 birds per square metre.

    It said that according to the RSPCA, “a lack of space for chickens” can cause:

    higher rates of death, skin infections, heat stress and ammonia burns from the birds laying in their own waste. The restricted movement exacerbates welfare problems associated with breeding chickens for fast growth. Known as ‘Frankenchicken’, the RSPCA calls this practice ‘unacceptable‘ Morrisons is yet to announce any plans to end either of these practices.

    People in chicken costumes protesting inside a Morrisons store

    Open Cages also notes that:

    over 300,000 people have signed Chris Packham’s petition asking Morrisons to sign the Better Chicken Commitment.

    You can sign the petition here.

    Opposing cruelty

    This is not the first time Open Cages has taken action against Morrisons – but it is its biggest demo yet. On 7 February, the group staged protests in London, Glasgow and Cornwall:

    Open Cages has also been doing some ‘brandalism’, adding campaign slogans to Morrisons posters:

    It also has a dedicated website where people can read about the extent of Morrisons’ alleged animal cruelty. You can visit the website here.

    Morrisons has defended itself. It told London News Online:

    We care deeply about animal welfare. All our regular chicken is raised to above Red Tractor standards; we are also the only retailer in Europe to ask our fresh chicken suppliers to require chicken to be born into the barn in which it will be raised by 2025. 80% of our fresh chicken meets this standard already. We also actively monitor for any malpractice in our supply chain; we will never tolerate it or look the other way and if we ever find it, we will act swiftly and decisively.

    Profiting from “ruthlessly intensive chicken farming”

    The group has claimed that “Morrisons deceives customers on animal welfare“. It adds:

    Morrisons claims to offer a range of chicken that adheres to the Better Chicken Commitment. However, to adhere to the BCC a company must commit to switch 100% of its chicken supply to higher standards. Morrisons’ range is speculated to form as little as 1% of its total chicken offering. This approach has been branded as ‘superficial’ when as much as 95% of Morrisons’ chickens still remain in the same intensive conditions as before.

    Open Cages co-founder Connor Jackson has said of the most recent protest:

    The idea of this action is to illustrate how chickens live before arriving on a Morrisons shelf. 78% of Brits oppose cruel farming practices. And the shocking truth is that Morrisons, a company that boasts about its high animal welfare credentials, is secretly profiting from some of the most ruthlessly intensive chicken farming practices available. So we feel forced to take drastic measures in order to warn consumers about what they’re really buying… Morrisons must stop ignoring the cruelty in its supply chain and sign the Better Chicken Commitment.

    Featured image and additional images via Tom Woollard

    By The Canary

  • UK Advertising Watchdog Bans Tesco Plant-Based Burger Commercial And Advert Linking Animal Cruelty To Meat Consumption

    cattle
    4 Mins Read

    The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received 63 complaints about an advert created by Vegan Friendly UK. The clip was devised to shine a light on what Vegan Friendly refers to as the hypocrisy of meat-eaters who claim to care about animal welfare. It has subsequently been banned on U.K. television due to the inclusion of graphic violence towards animals.

    The advert was originally deemed suitable for broadcast, with a caveat that it must not be shown close to programmes that were likely to be watched by children under 16 years old. Viewers making the complaints are said to have alluded to unnecessary distress being caused by the imagery.

    Photo by Leah Kelley at Pexels.

    What is Vegan Friendly UK?

    Vegan Friendly is a global non-profit, founded in 2012. It aims to make access to plant-based food uncomplicated by certifying restaurants and products. The organisation fought against the complaints against its ad, stating that images were no more harrowing than what is displayed in butcher shops and fishmongers. It asserted that its clips “would not feel out of place in a cooking programme or nature documentary”.

    Which images caused the issue?

    The advert shows a group of three friends eating together. Each is consuming a different dish while talking about how much they all care about animal welfare. After lifting their forks to their mouths, the animals used in the food are shown in a succession of quick images that show the suffering experienced during meat production. No animals are shown being slaughtered. 

    Clips included fish gasping for air, a cow seemingly crying from fear and a piglet standing next to its, presumably, dead mother.

    Video from the Plant Based News YouTube channel.

    What was the advert trying to do?

    The driving motivation of the advert was not denied. Vegan Friendly explained that it hoped to help consumers identify the “hypocrisy” of being against animal cruelty, while still eating meat. The target demographic was exclusively meat-eaters, without the intention of pointing fingers at people’s personal choices. The message, according to Vegan Friendly, was centred around treating all animals with compassion, not vilifying one dietary demographic. Viewers were asked to “make the connection” between what they say and what they eat.

    The ASA decided that some of the clips included in the advert were likely to cause distress to viewers. It cited the cinematography, which used scenes of meat-eating spliced with animal imagery, as being able to “heighten the distress felt by viewers”. Addressing Vegan Freindly’s defence that such scenes can be experienced in a shop or while watching a cooking programme, the ASA said both came with expectations of such images. A television advert creates an extra element of shock

    The ASA did not uphold any complaints linked to vilification of meat-eating, stating “the ad was trying to highlight how people’s actions might not necessarily align with their beliefs” and that in this instance, it was “not likely to cause widespread offence.”

    Photo by Artem Beliaikin at Unsplash.

    Tesco comes under fire as well

    Tesco has just come up against the ASA as well. The supermarket giant has had an advert for its Plant Chef range banned for containing a misleading claim that it is “better for the environment”. The ASA stated that Tesco was not able to substantiate its claim. The adverts were shown last year and received 171 complaints.

    According to the complaint, Tesco cannot claim to know the entire lifecycle of the burger shown in the offending advert, and therefore cannot state that the food is better for the environment than conventional meat burgers. The issue of plant-based diets being generally less environmentally impactful was not questioned, but complex production processes could make individual items more emissions-heavy than meat, the ASA claimed. 

    Photo by Richard Bell at Unsplash.

    Cracking down on perceived greenwashing

    As environmental concerns become a deciding factor for consumers when choosing brands ot support, more companies are seeking to align with green initiatives. The problem is that not all are sincere or as positively impactful as they frost seem. Because of the global rise of greenwashing, the ASA is increasingly looking to take a hard line on adverts that mislead consumers about action being taken by individual brands. 

    Last month, HSBC stood to become the first major bank to be issued with a warning from the ASA. The financial giant released campaigns that hinted at major climate action being taken, while not offering any qualification or emissions data. The incomplete environmental claims are being considered in line with new customer accounts. If consumers have signed up for HSBC services based on perceptions of green operating, which prove false, the public will be misled. The investigation continues.

    Lead photo by Austin Santaniello at Unsplash.

    The post UK Advertising Watchdog Bans Tesco Plant-Based Burger Commercial And Advert Linking Animal Cruelty To Meat Consumption appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Groundbreaking UN Resolution Connects Animal Welfare And Environmental Sustainability For The First Time

    4 Mins Read The United Nations Environment Assembly has adopted a resolution linking animal welfare to sustainability for the first time. The Animal Welfare – Environment – Sustainable Development Nexus resolution was accepted earlier this month after being sponsored by seven member states. The move is seen as historic and, potentially, a catalyst for widespread governmental action to […]

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  • European Farmers Are Struggling With Animal Welfare Concerns They Can’t Talk About, Study Suggests

    3 Mins Read A study published last December has highlighted a growing unease amongst European farmers. A number interviewed revealed increasing moral concerns surrounding the practice of animal agriculture, alongside an inability to voice them for fear of ‘betraying’ the industry.  The peer-reviewed report, published by Elsevier, revealed other surprising trends. Avoidance of meat products by those working […]

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  • Huge Tory PR disaster ruins an image Johnson’s government has long been cultivating

    Boris Johnson’s government has tried hard to cultivate an image of being an animal welfare champion. The writing has long been on the wall that this not, in fact, the case. Johnson’s disdain towards “newt-counting”, i.e. protections for wildlife, and his government’s wholesale slaughter of badgers, to name but two examples, have shown what a load of tosh this champion facade is.

    Now a huge Tory PR disaster has truly left the idea that Johnson’s government can be trusted to look out for the welfare of non-human animals dead in the water.

    National disgrace

    As The Canary previously reported, thousands of people recently called on the government to cancel its planning killing of an alpaca called Geronimo. The alpaca farmer and veterinary nurse Helen McDonald brought Geronimo to the UK from New Zealand in 2017 and upon arrival he had tests that suggested he had TB. Prior tests in New Zealand showed he didn’t have the disease, however, and the UK tests he had apparently aren’t “validated” for alpacas.

    In short, many people, including the conservationist Chris Packham and ex-Badger Trust CEO Dominic Dyer, suspected that the UK’s flawed TB testing regime had wrongly put a target on Geronimo’s back and called on the government for a rethink.

    The government didn’t heed their call though. Instead, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) sent a team of people in heavily protected gear, heavily protected themselves by police, to McDonald’s farm on 31 August. They then proceeded to chase Geronimo around a field, tie a rope around his head and drag him to a van to take him away for slaughter.

    PR disaster

    As Dyer pointed out, the sorry exercise was also a PR disaster for the government:

    Meanwhile, Packham argued that the appalling events showed how “out of control, arrogant and unaccountable” Defra is:

    That arrogance was further illustrated, he pointed out, by the department’s decision not to allow an independent observer at Geronimo’s post mortem examination:

    Defra’s refusal to allow an independent observer at the post mortem is particularly troubling as its results will determine whether Geronimo actually had TB or not:

    Killing their way out of trouble

    McDonald’s veterinary scientific adviser Dr Iain McGill joined a number of other leading vets recently in sharing their “grave reservations” about Geronimo’s UK test results. McGill told The Canary that Defra is “trying to kill their way out of trouble”. But he warned that the tactic is “not going to work this time”. McGill said that executing Geronimo:

    in the full glare of the world’s media will have serious repercussions for Defra officials involved in signing off on that decision.

    There were extreme animal welfare issues, with distressed vocalisations and shrieking by Geronimo, a sustained pursuit around the paddock by multiple police officers and Defra staff, followed by him being dragged on a rope towards his final tethering alone and scared in a horse box.

    He added that such behaviour “is simply not acceptable for the veterinary profession in the 21th Century and I feel very sorry for the veterinary surgeons who were forced to commit those actions by senior figures at Defra”.

    McGill has been working on the Operation Ark mission to fly Nowzad sanctuary staff and its rescue animals from Afghanistan to the UK. He said:

    Defra and APHA [Animal and Plant Health Agency] have been superb in helping us with that, and yet another part of Defra went behind my back and slaughtered Geronimo whilst I am focused on this humanitarian mission

    A whole heap of trouble

    The veterinarian told The Canary that there are already disciplinary proceedings on their way against Defra officials. He also said he wouldn’t be surprised if criminal proceedings followed either.

    What’s for certain is that Defra’s decision to, in McGill’s words, place Geronimo “on trial on the flimsiest of evidence” and kill him “as a mere suspect”, isn’t going to eliminate scrutiny of the UK’s flawed TB policy. On the contrary, it’s merely succeeded in drawing more attention to it.

    The appalling way Defra chose to end Geronimo’s life has also put the government’s ‘animal welfare champion’ ruse well and truly to bed.

    Featured image via Reuters / YouTube

    By Tracy Keeling

    This post was originally published on The Canary.

  • African Animal Welfare Groups Need More Funding, Alliances & Research, Says New Report

    4 Mins Read Animal welfare organisations based in Africa require more funding support, will benefit from alliances with other animal advocacy groups and more in-depth research localised to the African context, says a new report. Released by Animal Advocacy Africa (AAA), a nonprofit dedicated to advancing animal interests and the animal activist movement in the region, the new […]

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  • African Animal Welfare Groups Need More Funding, Alliances & Research, Says New Report

    4 Mins Read Animal welfare organisations based in Africa require more funding support, will benefit from alliances with other animal advocacy groups and more in-depth research localised to the African context, says a new report. Released by Animal Advocacy Africa (AAA), a nonprofit dedicated to advancing animal interests and the animal activist movement in the region, the new […]

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    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Israel Bans Fur Sale In The Fashion Industry, Becomes First Country Ever To Do So

    4 Mins Read Israel has announced that it has banned the sale of fur in the fashion industry with environmental protection minister Gila Gamliel signing an amendment that will go into effect in six months. Animal rights group PETA says this marks the “first entire nation” to completely ban sales of fur. PETA senior vice president of campaigns […]

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  • ‘Happiness & Sustainability Go Hand In Hand’: New Survey Shows Vegans Are Happier Than Meat Eaters

    5 Mins Read A new study was looking to do a deeper dive into the many misconceptions about vegans and vegetarians has taken meat eaters by surprise, with the results showing that vegans reported higher happiness levels (+7%) than those who consume meat. Further data revealed that meat eaters who were happier were even more likely to turn […]

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  • New U.K. Law: Animals Formally Recognised As Sentient Beings For The First Time

    3 Mins Read For the first time in U.K. law, animals are to be recognised as sentient beings, which will ensure that legislation across the board takes into account the fact that animals are capable of experiencing pain, joy and other emotions. The new Animal Welfare Sentience Bill that has been introduced in parliament has been hailed a […]

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  • ‘Vegans Don’t Need Capes’ – Exclusive Extract From New Think Like A Vegan Book

    4 Mins Read In this excerpt taken from Chapter 2 of the new book “Think Like A Vegan,” co-authors Emilia A. Leese and Eva J. Charalambides pushes readers to take the first step on a journey kinder to the planet, humans and animals. Vegans Don’t Need Capes The heroism of veganism is overstated. We get asked if it’s […]

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  • GlobalData Urges Food Brands: Meat Eating Experience Must Be Replicated To Transition To Sustainable Sytem

    4 Mins Read According to data found by a 2021 Q1 consumer survey conducted by data and analytics company, GlobalData, 42% of global consumers said that they wouldn’t choose plant-based and vegan alternatives to conventional red meat, and to address this, the company has urged all brands and companies to work on replicating the taste, feel and other […]

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  • Aquaculture Posing ‘Unparalleled Welfare Threats’ & Suffering To Fish, Study Warns

    4 Mins Read Despite aquaculture exploding into an enormous global industry in the past years, its impact on the welfare of fish has largely gone unnoticed. In a new study, New York University (NYU) researchers emphasise the “knowledge gap” on animal welfare in the farming of aquatic animals for food and warn of the “unparalleled” threats and suffering […]

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  • 85% Of Global Veganuary Participants Plan To Make Plant-Forward Diet Permanent

    4 Mins Read More than 8 in 10 people who joined the Veganuary pledge for the first month of 2021 plan on making their newfound plant-forward diets a long-term habit. The findings, revealed in the annual survey released last month, also showed record-breaking levels of participation this year, spanning 582,000 people across 209 countries and regions globally, with […]

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  • Nearly 90% Of Vegans Changed Their Diet For Animal Welfare, Global Survey Finds

    4 Mins Read A new global survey involving more than 8,500 participants across over 100 countries reveals that animal welfare is the top reason motivating people to go vegan. While nearly 90% of respondents cited animal welfare, more people are now also going vegan due to sustainability reasons, as consumers begin to couple their diet to their environmental […]

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  • Sweet Farm: This Animal Sanctuary Brings Goats To Your Zoom Call To Fight Factory Farming

    4 Mins Read Yes, there’s an animal sanctuary introducing goats to your next video conference. But for good reason. California-based Sweet Farm is connecting you to their rescued llamas and goats at the sanctuary to spread the message about the harms of factory farming, to both animals and the environment. More than that, the non-profit is connecting their […]

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