Cameras are part of a series of measures to improve animal welfare and enforce laws against cruelty





All slaughterhouses in England will be fitted with compulsory CCTV under plans to be unveiled on Friday by environment secretary Michael Gove, as part of a series of measures to bolster welfare standards and enforce laws against animal cruelty.

The proposals – set out in a consultation paper – will deliver the Tories’ manifesto pledge for CCTV to be required in every slaughterhouse in England in all areas where live animals are present (where unloaded, stunned and killed) with unrestricted access to footage for official vets.

The government will also raise standards for farm animals and domestic pets by modernising statutory animal welfare codes to reflect enhancements in medicines, technological advances and the latest research and advice from vets. The codes will remain enshrined in law and the first to be updated will cover chickens bred for meat.

“We have some of the highest animal welfare standards in the world and the actions I am setting out today will reinforce our status as a global leader,” said Gove. “As we prepare to leave the EU, these measures provide a further demonstration to consumers around the world that our food is produced to the very highest standards.”

Animal welfare groups have been calling for compulsory cameras – backed by an independent monitoring system for years, while the Farm Animal Welfare Committee, British Veterinary Association, Food Standards Agency (FSA) and the RSPCA have also all backed slaughterhouse CCTV.

Between 2009 and 2016, the animal welfare group Animal Aid secretly filmed inside 11 randomly chosen UK slaughterhouses. Their undercover researchers found clear evidence of cruelty and law-breaking in 10 of those 11. Evidence showed workers stubbing out cigarettes in pigs’ faces and animals being stamped on, beaten and punched.

In April animal rights activists criticised a decision not to jail a farm apprentice who was secretly filmed hitting, stamping on and throwing newborn calves at a Somerset farm.

UK supermarkets have also backed compulsory CCTV, with the vast majority now insisting that their suppliers have it.

“Last year, we concluded that it was time to make CCTV compulsory in slaughterhouses, progress on voluntary adoption having plateaued,” said Heather Hancock, chairman of the FSA. “I and the Board of the FSA warmly welcome Defra’s consultation about making CCTV mandatory. We look forward to the introduction of a comprehensive requirement for using, accessing and retaining footage from CCTV in abattoirs.”

Isobel Hutchinson, director of Animal Aid said: “After many years of campaigning for mandatory, independently monitored CCTV in slaughterhouses, we are greatly encouraged by this news. But although this development is a huge step forward, we urge the public to remember that even when the law is followed to the letter, slaughter is a brutal and pitiless business that can never be cruelty-free.”