Lambs Brutally Slaughtered in Italy
Animal Equality’s investigations department has again infiltrated the Italian lamb meat industry. They have gone inside one of the roughly 200 slaughterhouses in the country that are allowed to slaughter without pre-stunning, a cruel practice inflicted every year upon hundreds of thousands of animals.
The footage, filmed through the use of hidden cameras, shows how workers systematically break many health and hygiene regulations and, most importantly, ignore all the existing standards for the protection of animals. Lambs suffer both physical and psychological torture:
- All animals are slaughtered while still conscious
- Using compressed air, workers inflate still conscious animals with compressed air to rip the skin from the muscles.
- Workers violently kick animals and stomp on them without reason
- Lambs are shoved and others are dragged by their tail
Killing animals without pre-stunning is still allowed by a European regulation (EC No. 1099/2009) which permits it in the case of animals subject to particular methods of slaughter prescribed by religious rites. However, slaughterhouses granted with this waiver often take advantage of it at the expense of animals. This criminal behavior is incentivized by both the absence of strict controls and the lack of legal consequences for those who abuse animals. To this day, there are only a few fines issued under this law. Animal Equality is asking the Italian Parliament to take action by introducing a law to criminalize animal abuse in slaughterhouses. Animal Equality is also asking that video surveillance be mandatory in all slaughterhouses. Matteo Cupi, Executive Director of Animal Equality Italia, stated: “Even in slaughterhouses operating according to regulations, animals fear and suffer beyond imagination. In a civil society such as ours, it’s inadmissible that there isn’t any law that punishes people who harm animals unnecessarily and on purpose. It’s time to put an end to this.” You too can take action for these delicate animals by leaving them off your plate.
