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Viva!
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Embargo: Fully formed foetuses ‘thrown away’ in slaughterhouses As the BSE Over Thirty Month cattle culling scheme resumes, Viva! is launching a dossier of graphic photographs revealing the plight of unborn calves and other animals in slaughterhouses. Viva! is concerned that as the OTM Scheme was put on hold during the foot-and-mouth crisis, many of the cows now being slaughtered may be pregnant. The pictures depict fully formed baby calves and piglets who have been cut from their heavily pregnant mothers on the slaughterline. They are shown lying in pools of blood and surrounded by piles of organs. They form the basis of a hard-hitting new Viva! campaign entitled, “Throwaway Lives” which urges members of the public to stop eating animal products. In 1999, Viva! revealed that 150,000 pregnant cows are sent to slaughter each year - many approaching full term*. A high profile campaign calling for an end to the killing followed, attracting support from vets, celebrities and members of the public. Now, Viva! is widening its campaign to call for an end to the slaughter of all pregnant animals on welfare grounds. The majority of pregnant cows killed are dairy cows who must be incinerated under BSE regulations. The compensation payment structure encourages the killing of pregnant cows because animals sent through market are weighed liveweight and the farmer is compensated per kilo. If the animal is pregnant, the farmer will receive extra money. Gabriele Meurer MRCVS worked as an official veterinary surgeon for the UK’s Meat Hygiene Service. She says, “What is happening right now in British slaughterhouses is quite simply a scandal. Sometimes when these creatures are hanging on the line bleeding to death, you can see the unborn animals kicking inside their mothers’ wombs. I, as a vet, am not supposed to do anything about this. The unborn babies do not exist according to the regulations. I just had to watch, do nothing and keep quiet. It broke my heart. I felt like a criminal. I left the Meat Hygiene Service and the country - completely disillusioned and full of disgust.” Ms Meurer is backing Viva!’s campaign and calling on other vets to join her. She appeals to her colleagues, “If you care about animals, then please go and look inside these abattoirs! You are all responsible! This is happening in your country and yet no one seems to care.” After killing, the uterus and dead foetus are sent for disposal by rendering - although there is no commercial use for the foetal material. Material from cows who are over thirty months must be separated, stained yellow and destroyed by rendering and incineration. “Fully formed calves, piglets and lambs are capable of independent life and yet they have no legal protection. They will still be living as their mothers are slaughtered and hacked to pieces - a barbarity beyond description. These photographs reveal the depraved, heartless attitude that drives Britain’s meat industry,” says Viva!’s Senior Campaigner Rebecca Smith. The government refuses to acknowledge that the slaughter of pregnant animals constitutes a welfare concern. DEFRA says, “We do not see a justification for introducing either additional measures to protect pregnant cows and unborn calves or to survey the number of pregnant animals being slaughtered.” GMTV presenter Fiona Phillips is
joining Viva!’s call for a veggie Britain. She says, “As a mother and
a vegetarian, I am horrified by the meat industry’s utter disrespect for
life. We cannot claim to live in a civilised society while such atrocities
are continuing behind closed abattoir doors. Ultimately, this suffering
will only end if people stop eating animal products and I would urge all
caring people to support Viva!’s campaign by going vegetarian.” Photographs and more information
from Rebecca Smith on 0117 944 1000. > To
view a selection of the photographs, click here. * GH Singleton et al, A survey to
establish why pregnant cows are culled, BCVA
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