Posted on February 13, 2021 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Animal Equality’s undercover footage has revealed animals suffering from prolonged pain in a Scottish Salmon Company slaughterhouse. The investigation, showing fish-killing processes, is the first of its kind to be released in the UK.
The Scottish Salmon Company supplies major UK supermarkets Waitrose and Co-op, alongside premium retailers, hotels, and restaurants. The corporation also has a global reach, exporting its products to over 20 countries across the world.
In the UK, up to 77 million fish are raised and killed every single year – that’s over two per second.
Today, we released our latest investigation. As the first of its kind showing undercover footage from within a Scottish salmon slaughterhouse, it is truly groundbreaking.
Several extremely serious animal welfare cases of abuse were witnessed. A significant number of salmon were filmed fully conscious when killed; others were thrown to the ground and left to languish.
The company that owns and operates the slaughterhouse has been linked to Waitrose and the Co-op.
Scottish produce is often perceived by consumers as synonymous with ‘higher welfare’ and ‘higher quality’ practices, yet our investigation shows that even with stunning machinery in use, there is chaos, confusion, and unimaginable suffering.
Our investigation shows that fish need stronger protection.
Despite a stunning device being in place in this facility, numerous salmon displayed consciousness at the time of slaughter, evidenced by flapping, wriggling, and grasping motions.
Many salmon’s gills were cut when they were still conscious, causing them to be in agony for up to several minutes as a result.
Some salmon were stunned with a club after their gills were cut, causing their blood to spray out. In some instances, conscious animals were clubbed as many as seven times.
And I mean…In the open sea, fish are caught in huge nets and squeezed together.
The animals’ bodies are ruthlessly crushed in the nets.
Fish lying further up in the nets suffocate in the air because they do not need anesthetic. Those that survived the transport from the water onboard are sometimes still processed alive.
Other fish are stored and prepared in a state somewhere between dead and alive.
Pulled on board, numerous fish are stabbed, trampled, and beaten to death or thrown alive into the freezer, where they slowly and painfully suffocate.
Many are still alive if their gills and stomach are cut open.
There is the saying … “If fish could scream, people would be much more sensitive to the suffering of fish.”
That’s not true!
We have learned to hear nothing, to see nothing, and consequently do nothing against the violence that is used on animals every day.
Even if the screaming becomes loud, we have learned not to feel anything, which in other words means not to feel responsible for the suffering that we ourselves cause.
Worse still, we consider it our right to cooperate with the system that makes us indifferent killers.
The human-animal is one of many living beings on this earth that has the same right to live here as other living beings.
And: Anyone who maltreats or tortures an animal devalues his own humanity.
Posted on February 13, 2021 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
The town of Garmisch in Bavaria (Germany) is located near the mountain “Zugspitze”, at 2,962 m the highest mountain in Germany.
The city consists of two places, the second is Partenkirchen, and both were united in 1935.
Garmisch is considered a more elegant district, Partenkirchen (with its cobblestone streets) exudes a traditional Bavarian ambiance.
This district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen is planning to protect the cultural landscape there as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
That wouldn’t be bad either, because it is a beautiful natural area, one of the few still existing in Germany, which is endowed with wild natural beauty.
In this context, the “tethering” of cattle should also be classified as a cultural asset worthy of protection.
Animal Rights Watch sees it as an attempt to misuse the title “World Heritage Site” to legitimize traditional cruelty to animals.
Nationwide, around 1 million cows live in what is known as “tethered”. Every fourth cow in the dairy industry is affected, most of them in smaller farms – even with organic labels. In Garmisch-Partenkirchen, more than 50 percent of all cows in the dairy industry are “tied up”.
The affected animals are tied to the neck with a short chain, rope, or iron rod.
The remaining freedom of movement is just enough for the cows to lie down and get up again. For months they stand practically motionless in one place without the slightest change.
You can write a protest letter or an objection against this project to the district administrator of Garmisch-Partenkirchen Peter Strohwasser until May 31, 2021
And I mean…In Bavaria over 190,000 animals are tethered all year round – without any grazing. Also in other EU countries, e.g. B. in Austria, Poland, Spain, the type of housing is still widespread.
All efforts to ban it have so far failed.
As early as 2016, the Federal Council classified the year-round “connection” as a violation of animal welfare.
A ban failed at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture.
I have prepared a letter for the district administrator of Garmisch-PartenkirchenPeter Strohwasser.
For the Germans is the German text.
But if non-Germans also want to protest against this project, the translation follows, anyone can copy and send it.
(German) Sehr geehrter Herr Strohwasser,
Anbindehaltung hat weder mit Kultur noch mit Tierwohl etwas zu tun!
Mit dem von Ihnen erstellten Anspruch, diese überholte und qualvolle Tierhaltung als schützenwertes Kulturerbe einzustufen, zeigen Sie wie primitiv und empathielos Menschen Mitten in Europa am 21. Jahrhundert sein können.
Ihr Vorhaben, die Anbindehaltung als schützenwertes Kulturerbe anerkennen zu wollen, kann gebildete Menschen nur anwidern und abschrecken und verstoßt gegen jede Ethik moderner zivilisierter Länder und Gesellschaften.
Damit würde die Gemeinde nur beweisen, dass sie bildungstechnisch ganz hinten angesiedelt ist.
Ob ganzjährig oder nicht, ob erlaubt oder verboten: Die „Anbindehaltung“ zählt zu den leidvollsten Praktiken der Milchindustrie, und Sie wissen es.
Ihr weltgewandtes Garmisch-Partenkirchen, mit noch unberührtem und prachtvollem Naturleben, eignet sich am besten für eine artgerechte, leidfreie Tier Haltung, die auch die Mehrheit der zahlreichen Besucher und Touristen zweifelsohne befürworten würden, denn die meisten Menschen, wie wir erfreulicherweise erkennen können, verabscheuen diese widerliche und archaische Tierhaltungsform. Auch diejenigen, die selbst tierische Produkte konsumieren.
Stehen Sie bitte auf der richtigen Seite und erstreben Sie die Abschaffung der Anbindehaltung, statt diesen Folter auch noch als schützenwertes zu bewerben.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Name, Nationalität
(English) Dear Mr. Strohwasser,
Tethering has nothing to do with culture or animal welfare!
With your claim to classify this outdated and agonizing animal husbandry as a cultural heritage worthy of protection, you show how primitive and empathetic people can be in the middle of Europe in the 21st century.
Their intention to recognize the tethering as a cultural heritage worthy of protection can only disgust and deter educated people and offends against all ethics of modern civilized countries and societies.
This would only prove to the community that it is at the very bottom in terms of education.
Year-round or not, allowed or prohibited: “tethering” is one of the most painful practices in the dairy industry, and you know it.
Your cosmopolitan Garmisch-Partenkirchen, with still untouched and magnificent natural life, is best suited for species-appropriate, suffering-free animal husbandry, which the majority of the numerous visitors and tourists would undoubtedly support, because most people, as we happily can see, abhor this disgusting and archaic form of animal husbandry.
Even those who consume animal products themselves.
Please stand on the right side and strive for the abolition of tethering, instead of promoting this torture as something worth protecting.
Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) 