Viva! 8 York Court Wilder Street Bristol BS2 8QH Tel: 0117 944 1000 Fax: 0117 924 4646 email: media@viva.org.uk	10 August 1999 VEGGIE CHARITY HITS BACK TO SAVE PREGNANT COWS FROM SLAUGHTER Viva! National Week of Action - 7th - 14th August 1999 Viva! has today hit back at attempts by the Ministry of Agriculture (MAFF) and the Meat and Livestock Commission (MLC) to silence its campaign to stop pregnant cows from being sent to slaughter. The vegetarian charity is midway through a National Week of Action which will see 150 of its local groups protest outside burger bars nationwide. MAFF has not denied Viva!’s claim that: 150,000 pregnant cows are sent to slaughter each year, many of them in the third trimester of their pregnancy. Farmers are failing to use simple pregnancy scanning techniques and commonly condemn the animals because they believe them to be infertile. Yet a statement released by MAFF refuses to address Viva!’s concerns and talks only of welfare regulations being “strictly enforced” and the need for “practical training and education”. In a Farmers Weekly article, MLC director Richard Lowe accuses Viva! of using “gross lies”, “misleading claims” and “emotive language to further its cause”. Yet the meat industry lobby group is unable to deny that hundreds of thousands of pregnant cows are being slaughtered - a fact revealed in a scientific paper published by the British Cattle Veterinary Association. “There is a blatant attempt by both government and the meat industry to cover up one of the worst causes of farm animal abuse which we have ever come across”, says Viva! Campaigner Becky Smith. “Heavily pregnant cows want nothing more than to be left in peace to protect their unborn calf and it an absolute barbarity to send them to slaughter. The MLC and MAFF are far more concerned with protecting consumers from the brutal truths behind meat production than with protecting animals from being cruelly treated.” Through targeting burger bars, Viva! is helping consumers to make the connection between animals and the meat in their burger buns. MAFF and the MLC claim that the campaign is pointless because under BSE regulations, not all pregnant animals will enter the food chain. “However, MAFF admit that some pregnant animals are still being used for meat”, says Becky Smith, “and whether these cows end up being eaten or incinerated, the fact remains that they will be forced to endure the nightmare of an abattoir killing. By eating meat, consumers are playing a part in this suffering. Our message to the public is this: going vegetarian is the most effective step you can take to help stop the cruelty”. Viva! has today written to Agriculture Minister Nick Brown asking him what steps he proposes to end this abuse. The charity’s campaign is backed by a host of celebrities including Sir Paul McCartney, Joanna Lumley, Pam Ferris, Wendy Turner and Benjamin Zephaniah. ________________________________________________ More information from Becky Smith or Lesley Jeavons on 0117 944 1000 Click here to visit our campaign pages