Farm Animal Voice 191 by Compassion in World Farming

Issue 191 – Summer 2014

THE BEGINNING OF THE END Caged animals in Europe

FARMAGEDDON The book that’s got the world talking

THE SECRETS OF FOOD MARKETING Your ﬁlm is a global success

I S S U E 191

FARM ANIMAL VOICE CONTENTS UPDATE 4 News update 6

Project Pig Ending illegal cruelty for Europe’s pigs

INSIGHT 15 The Better Chicken Initiative Compassion in the USA INSPIRATION 20 Philosopher and Animal Welfarist Peter Singer writes for Farm Animal Voice 22 YOU are our inspiration Your passion for Compassion never ceases to amaze us

ACTION 8 Animals should never suffer Humane slaughter must be made law 11

We will not be silenced The ﬁlm you made goes global

14 Petition to end foie gras production Cruel and illegal – have your say today 16 Farmageddon – the campaign Did you know your taxes fund factory farming? 18 United against live animal transport The politicians cannot ignore us anymore

SPRING 2014 RAFFLE WINNERS If you took part in our spring 2014 rafﬂe earlier this year – thank you! The lucky winners are: 1st prize £2,000, Mr D Holman, Dorset; 2nd prize: £500, Mrs C Russell, Portsmouth; Seller’s prize: £500, Mrs J Harvey, Gloucestershire; 10 Runner-up prizes of £100 each: Mrs I Bingham, Derbyshire; Mrs A Thorpe, West Yorkshire; Mr G Sansom, Bedfordshire; Mrs L Sweetman, Kent; Miss P Pratt, Worcestershire; Ms D Kitchens, Oxon; Mrs K Sherrington, Lancs; Mrs M Banting, Bristol; Ms A Beckett, Norfolk; Ms A Jones, West Glamorgan. Editor Richard Brooks Production manager Sarah Bryan Design Neo – weareneo.com Farm Animal Voice Compassion in World Farming, River Court, Mill Lane, Godalming, Surrey, GU7 1EZ, UK Enquiries Tel +44 (0) 1483 521 950 (lines are manned Monday to Friday, 9am – 5pm) Email supporters@ciwf.org Compassion in World Farming is a registered charity (England), registered number 1095050. Our Patrons Jilly Cooper OBE, Peter Egan, Princess Alia Al Hussein of Jordan, Dame Penelope Keith DBE, Bruce Kent, Joanna Lumley OBE, Sir Peter O’Sullevan CBE, Jonathon Porritt CBE, Sir Crispin Tickell GCMG KCVO Front cover iStock

12 NO FARM ANIMAL SHOULD BE KEPT IN A CAGE

WELCOME Welcome to the summer 2014 issue of Farm Animal Voice. A lot has been happening since the last issue was published in April – so much so, we can’t fit all the news in! So please take a look at our new website at ciwf.org if you don’t want to miss a single story. Across Europe, nearly half a million people have demanded that the sow stall ban (which came into effect January 2013) be properly enforced. All of Europe’s pigs must now benefit from our hard fought for changes in the law (page 6). We are now making real headway in China, South Africa, India and North America. Our Farmageddon campaign is reaching new audiences and gathering global recognition for the need to end factory farming and fix our broken food system. (See page 16). We have been able to invest in new ways of speaking out and reaching more and more people. Made entirely with your support, our new film, The Secrets of Food Marketing has now been viewed over 5 million times – the most viewed film we have ever produced (page 11).

IN MEMORY OF

RT REVD. JOHN AUSTIN BAKER 1928-2014 Bishop John Austin Baker was an outspoken critic of factory farming. Speaking of the plight of factory farmed animals he said “To shut your mind, heart and imagination from the sufferings of others is to begin slowly, but inexorably, to die.”

for the Welfare of Animals. In Parliament, he served on the All-Party Committee for Animal Welfare. More recently he was an enthusiastic signatory to Compassion’s Vision for Fair Food and Farming.

Bishop Baker was always active on animal welfare issues. He was a Patron of Compassion in World Farming, Catholic Concern for Animals and the Anglican Society

Compassion will always be grateful for his commitment to farm animal welfare and we hope that other religious leaders will follow his example.

Because of you, Compassion is making a difference to the lives of millions of farmed animals across the world. Together, we are changing the way the world is thinking about farm animals and food. Thank you.

Philip Lymbery Chief Executive My personal blog is available at: philiplymbery.com or you can follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/philip_ciwf ciwf.org

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URGENT ACTION NEEDED ON FARM ANTIBIOTICS The nightmare scenario of a post-antibiotic era has shot to the top of the government and media agenda. In July 2014, UK Prime Minister David Cameron warned of us being sent back to the ‘medical dark ages’ and has set up a committee of experts to look at the problem. At Compassion, our concern is that a potential major contributor to the crisis is being overlooked – the overuse of antibiotics in farming. Within weeks of the Prime Minister’s intervention, a report by the UK Parliament’s Science and Technology Committee – ‘Ensuring access to working antimicrobials’ – did ﬁnally address the issue. The report highlights that antibiotics are routinely used on healthy farm animals and recommends that this must stop. However it does not call for a drastic reduction in farm antibiotic use, as it does for use in human medicine.

One of the main concerns of the Alliance to Save our Antibiotics, of which Compassion is a founding member, is routine preventative use – when antibiotics are given to intensively farmed animals when no disease is present. Alison Craig, Campaign Manager of the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics said: “The Netherlands has reduced its farm antibiotic use by 56% in ﬁve years, and we should be aiming to emulate this kind of determined action in the UK. We want Ministers to set targets to reduce farm antibiotic use drastically, and urgently.”

TAKE ACTION Please write to your MP, asking them to press the Government to act on the recommendations of the report. The Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics has launched a petition with 38 Degrees which more than 28,000 people have signed. Please sign and share the petition at: ciwf.org/AntibioticsCrisis

WOOLWORTHS IS A GOOD EGG Woolworths has become the first African retailer to receive Compassion’s Good Egg Award for its ongoing commitment to leading the free-range egg industry in South Africa. Responding to customer concerns, Woolworths was South Africa’s first retailer to make the switch to selling exclusively free-range shell eggs and remains the only retailer after nearly a decade to do so. The company is also well on its way to banishing caged egg ingredient from its manufactured products. In 2011, one of the retailer’s main egg suppliers invested R20 million (more than £1million) in a new specialised facility and farm, the first of its kind in the country, dedicated to producing pasteurised liquid egg (used in food products) from free-range hens. Currently more than 75% of Woolworths food products containing egg as an ingredient are made with free-range eggs, and this percentage continues to rise each year.

FARMED FISH SHOULD BE STUNNED BEFORE SLAUGHTER We are pleased that the UK government’s Farm Animal Welfare Committee (FAWC) has recommended farmed ﬁsh should be stunned before slaughter to ensure they don’t feel pain. Fish are the ‘forgotten’ farm animal and there is a casual assumption that they are unable to feel pain, which is not true. Farmed ﬁsh deserve a good life and should be treated humanely when they are slaughtered. Currently,

farmed ﬁsh are not protected by law at slaughter in the same way as other farmed animals are, something we need urgent action to address.

There is no justiﬁcation to treat ﬁsh any differently from other farm animals. We should treat them with the same compassion as any other animal.”

Dil Peeling, Compassion’s Director of Campaigns, said:

As far as Compassion understands, the majority of salmon and trout slaughtered in the UK will be stunned before slaughter. If you want to ensure the farmed ﬁsh you buy is stunned, look out for RSPCA Freedom Food and Soil Association Organic labels.

“I welcome this new report which gives a clear message to the government and ﬁsh farming industry that we can and should reduce the suffering of farmed ﬁsh at slaughter.

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TACKLING ILLEGAL BATTERY CAGES In a victory for animal welfare, the European Court of Justice has ﬁnally ruled against Italy for not upholding the EU’s barren battery cage ban. Italy was still non-compliant with the rules more than 18 months after the ban came into force on 1st January 2012. The ruling marks the end of the European Commission’s action against Italy to enforce the law. The Commission was forced to take Italy to court after initial efforts did not seem to have the desired effect, with 12 million hens still in the illegal cages at the end of 2012. It is clear from the decision notice that Italy did not even deny the law was being broken, the government’s representatives limiting themselves to the incredibly weak argument that there wasn’t enough time to prosecute non-compliant businesses. Annamaria Pisapia, Compassion’s Director of CIWF Italia, said: “What an absurd excuse. Is Italy saying it can’t enforce the law in its own territory? The country had 13 years to prepare for the ban. What was lacking was

the political will, which was cast aside in favour of the interests of those who stood to gain economically from exploiting the hens.” Meanwhile, Compassion’s Investigation Unit has recently uncovered an illegal barren battery cage operation in Greece. Olga Kikou, Compassion’s European Affairs Manager, says: “I urge the European Commission to ensure that the barren battery cage ban is enforced throughout Europe and at the moment, I would suggest we boycott eggs and egg products that have been produced in Greece – unless there is proof that it is farmed to a higher welfare standard.” Barren battery cages restrict a hen’s movement to the extent that she cannot even spread her wings. The ban was agreed in 1999, so there is no excuse for farmers not to be compliant with the law. Greece now remains the BARREN only country of the EU BATTE RY CAGES 28 that continues to ILLEGAL SINCE blatantly ﬂout the law. JAN 2

INDIA BANS IMPORT OF FOIE GRAS We are thrilled that India has become the ﬁrst country to ban the import of foie gras. Foie gras is produced by cruelly force feeding ducks and geese so that their livers become painfully enlarged. Emma Slawinski, Head of Campaigns and Advocacy at Compassion said: “This is a huge leap forward for animal welfare. This ban cuts off imports which are the main source of foie gras to Indian consumers.” See page 14 for more information on our campaign to ban foie gras in Europe.

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COMPASSION CEO RECOGNISED FOR “OUSTANDING CAMPAIGNING” In June, Compassion CEO Philip Lymbery was named by a European animal welfare coalition as this year’s ‘outstanding campaigner’. Eurogroup for Animals gave Philip the award for his book Farmageddon and the work he has done to bring the debate on sustainable food into the mainstream. Presenting Philip with the award, Reineke Hameleers, Director of Europgroup for Animals, said: “Philip has shaken up Europe and the rest of the world quite a bit regarding a very important topic: the way we produce our food. He has revealed in a very clear and accessible fashion that if we continue industrial food production we’ll be in big trouble.” See page 16 for more on Farmageddon.

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PROJECT PIG BRUSSELS TO BEIJING

Over the past year, Compassion in World Farming has worked around the clock to demand an end to the illegal cruelty being endured by pigs all over the European Union. Further afield, there are early signs of progress in the world’s largest pig farming country – China.

EUROPE

pigs – materials that have been shown to reduce instances of tail biting and the need for tail docking. These bundles were then delivered to the Ministry of Agriculture in those countries.

In just one year, over 475,000 people signed our petition that called for the EU Pigs Directive, a piece of legislation designed to protect the welfare of pigs across the European Union, to be fully enforced by every single Member State.

• joined Joanna Lumley in hosting an event in the European Parliament to lobby MEPs from across the EU.

In the last two weeks of the campaign we took Hope, our giant inﬂatable pig, on an incredible 2,000-mile tour of Europe, stopping in seven major cities to bring the plight of Europe’s pigs to the attention in the public. The number of signatures gathered on the tour alone exceeded 100,000 – making this the fastest ever growing petition we have produced. A huge thank you to everyone who supported this campaign.

The European Commission has also been alerted to this campaign, with over 38,000 supporters emailing them about our petition and calling for them to apply pressure to non-compliant Member States.

The tour culminated in March 2014 with Hope arriving in Brussels to deliver our huge petition to the Agriculture Ministers of Europe at their monthly meeting in the city. They can be under little doubt about the level of support for the full enforcement of the Pigs Directive. But that isn’t all. During the course of the last year, as well as gathering signatures for our petition, we: • investigated 45 pig farms in six EU Member States; • held ‘straw petition’ events in the Netherlands and France, where we asked members of the public to sign straw bundles, representing the lack of “manipulable materials” provided to

Unfortunately, there are still six countries (Belgium, Cyprus, France, Finland, Greece, Slovenia)* who have still not fully enforced the January 2013 ban on sow stalls – despite having had over 10 years to prepare for it. The good news is that following our campaign, the Commission has now begun taking action against all of these countries. In a repeat of the pattern we saw following the 2012 ban on barren battery cages for laying hens, it appears that the Commission is listening to us again. As well as the action taken against the six non-compliant Member States, the Commission has also announced a project involving scientists from eight different EU countries to look at ways in which to reduce tail biting and the need for tail docking of piglets altogether. None of this would be happening without you.

CHINA: CHANGE IS IN THE AIR Around 1.4 billion pigs are slaughtered for meat in the world each year and the largest producer is China, accounting for nearly half of the world’s pig meat production. Thanks to your support, we have been able to launch our new Good Pig Production Award in China. Our scheme aims to improve the welfare standards for pigs as well as tackling food safety and environmental concerns. Over the past year, Compassion has been working in partnership with the International Cooperation Committee of Animal Welfare (ICCAW) – a non-governmental organisation approved by the Ministry of Agriculture of the People’s Republic of China – to set the criteria for the Good Pig Production Award. The award will be presented to Chinese pig producers that take steps to improve their farming facilities and implement welfare-friendly practices. The first Good Pig Production Awards are due to be presented at an official ceremony in China in October 2014. Our partnership with ICCAW is creating further opportunities for tackling factory farming in China. We have been able to raise public awareness on farm animal welfare issues through local workshops, seminars and media activity. We have also been invited to comment on the first Animal Welfare Code of Practice for pigs in China. The task that lies ahead is huge but we believe that we now have a fantastic opportunity to generate ground breaking momentum across the pig industry in China and it is only made possible because of you. Thank you for making Compassion’s vital and pioneering work possible.

*Based on the most recent Commission data from January 2014

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ACTION

COMPASSION IN THE FINAL HOURS OF LIFE

There is no issue we work on that causes passions to run higher than the slaughter of farm animals. It is easy to understand why. It has massive welfare consequences for every farm animal in the world and, done badly, it can cause unspeakable suffering. Conflicting interest groups bring their own agendas to bear which can muddy the waters.

or Compassion, a humane death means the best possible transport and handling prior to slaughter, and a slaughter practice that results in instantaneous death or which involves stunning that renders the animal insensible to pain until death. We know the best way to make this happen is to get it written into legislation and corporate policy, with no loop-holes or get-outs. And the best way to make rapid progress is to work and engage with all the interest groups involved.

OUR CAMPAIGN IN THE UK

WE ARE UNEQUIVOCAL IN OUR POSITION: Compassion believes we have a responsibility to ensure that every animal killed for food has the most humane death possible.

In the UK, around 800 million meat chickens, 9 million pigs and 2.6 million cattle are slaughtered every year. These ﬁgures do not take into account emergency killing of sick or injured animals or the killing of ‘surplus’ animals such as male chicks in the egg industry. The key factors in ensuring the most humane death possible are the welfare potential of the system that is being used and the skill of the slaughterman. A poor slaughterman can cause suffering in the best system and likewise the best slaughterman cannot improve the limitations of a system that is inherently inhumane.

THE LAW The government recently performed a dramatic U-turn on the implementation of new EU slaughter laws in the UK. The now halted UK regulations are known by the shorthand ‘WATOK’ (Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing) and the EU law they refer to is Council Regulation 1099/2009. ‘WATOK’ would have ensured that important new measures to reduce potential suffering are enforceable in the UK. These include the requirements to apply minimum electrical stunning parameters; to designate an animal welfare ofﬁcer in slaughterhouses and for slaughterhouses to draw up and implement standard operating procedures. All of these could have signiﬁcant positive implications for animal welfare. The government has said it needs more time to work out how to implement these changes, despite the EU Council Regulation coming into force more than 18 months ago. It is simply unacceptable for them to delay whilst animals suffer.

ACTION

` Are we going to treat animals humanely or not? When animals are killed without stunning, the science shows they suffer extreme pain, distress and anxiety. Philip Lymbery, Chief Executive

a RELIGIOUS SLAUGHTER The media has been full of debate about unstunned religious slaughter in recent months, with Compassion regularly called on for expert opinion. It is clear the law requires all animals in the EU to be stunned before slaughter. However, Halal and Kosher methods of slaughter both have derogations within the law which allow slaughter without stunning. Around 80% of animals slaughtered under the Halal method are stunned, but that stun is not always effective. No animals slaughtered under the Kosher method are stunned.

TAKE ACTION To date, over 70,000 people have signed the British Veterinary Association petition – if you haven’t already, you can sign online at: ciwf.org/bva

whose meat is certiﬁed as Halal by the Halal Food Authority). This is about animal welfare. Pure and simple. Compassion is supporting an online petition started by the British Veterinary Association, calling on the UK government to put an end to all unstunned slaughter. And, until that time, for all meat from unstunned animals to be clearly labelled.

CCTV As we have sadly seen in the past, simply having legislation in place is not always enough to guarantee animal welfare. So as well as the legislative change we are seeking, we also believe all slaughterhouses should have CCTV installed. We are working on this issue with a group of other animal welfare organisations.

Slaughter without effective stunning causes severe welfare problems and should not be permitted. This is not an issue of religious freedom (as shown by the large proportion of animals stunned effectively

Continued overleaf

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ACTION

OUR CAMPAIGN AROUND THE WORLD LEBANON In December 2013, we released undercover footage showing the horriﬁc treatment that animals were suffering at a slaughterhouse in Lebanon. Our investigation revealed that almost every guideline governing the handling of animals at slaughter set down by the World Organisation for Animal Health (the OIE) was being ignored.

WE ARE WORKING WITH ANIMAL WELFARE NETWORK NEPAL TO END THE INHUMANE TREATMENT OF ANIMALS AT THE GADHIMAI FESTIVAL. WE’RE SUPPORTING GRASS-ROOTS EDUCATION AND CAMPAIGN WORK IN THE LOCAL COMMUNITY TO CREATE A GROUNDSWELL OF RESISTANCE TO THE SLAUGHTER FESTIVAL.

Tens of thousands of Compassion supporters petitioned the Lebanese Agriculture Ministry, and Compassion ofﬁces lobbied Lebanese Embassies in many countries calling for the slaughterhouse to be shut down. We have met with the Deputy Ambassador for Lebanon in London and continue to push for change. Given the political and security situation in Lebanon we know that we need to be offering solutions, so we have been compiling a dossier of ﬁnancial and practical support from international institutions that the Lebanese government can access to improve the welfare of animals at slaughter.

GADHIMAI The world’s biggest slaughter festival is due to happen this year in Nepal. The Gadhimai festival happens once every ﬁve years and the most recent occurrence involved the inhumane slaughter of more than a quarter of a million animals. None of these animals would have been stunned before slaughter and many would have faced slow, painful deaths. Animals witnessed others being slaughtered around them, whilst waiting for their turn. The levels of suffering and distress are almost unimaginable. With your support, we are campaigning to bring an end to the funding it receives from the Nepalese Government and end the festival once and for all.

YOU CAN HELP US END THIS Add your voice to our lobbying efforts by completing the postcard enclosed in this copy of Farm Animal Voice and posting it. Every person making their voice heard really does make a difference. 10

ACTION

THE TRUTH MUST BE TOLD Since being prevented from advertising on UK television, Compassion in World Farming is more determined than ever to speak out publically against factory farming and campaign for truthful food labelling. Together, we are the voice of farm animals.

THE FILM THEY DIDN’T WANT YOU TO SEE After we were banned from advertising on British TV, we asked supporters to fund an online film that would reveal the truth about factory farming. The resulting film, The Secrets of Food Marketing, was released in May 2014 and shows how food marketing spin is often used to sell factory farmed products to consumers. We are ecstatic that (at the time of writing) it has already been watched by more than 5 million people. It is already the most viewed film we have ever produced.

No amount of marketing makes factory farming acceptable.

WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED

This ﬁlm was only made possible by our supporters, who generously funded it. It is incredible that because of your support, millions of people will get the message that no amount of marketing makes factory farmed food acceptable.

HAVE YOU SEEN THE SECRETS OF FOOD MARKETING? If you haven’t seen the film yet, please do go online and watch the video now to find out the secret weapon food marketers use to sell factory farm produce. Please also share it with your friends and family – we want to make sure the message that factory farming is unacceptable reaches even more people. Watch and share online at ciwf.org/truth We are so grateful to everyone who supported our film; you have made it possible to reach millions of people. Thank you.

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THE BEGINNING OF

THE END FOR CAGES With your support, Compassion in World Farming has helped bring about the beginning of the end for some of the worst forms of farm animal confinement. The EU ban on barren battery cages for hens, and European restrictions on keeping sows in narrow stalls, are triggering ripples of change throughout the world.

ut we know that you don’t want Compassion to stop there. On your behalf, later this year we will launch one of our most ambitious campaigns ever. Our goal: to end the use of all cages in European farming. Cages are one of the most blatant manifestations of factory farm cruelty. They thwart many of the most basic instincts of any farm animal: to roam, to forage, to explore – even to choose when to seek companionship and when to be alone. If we can stop the use of cages in Europe, it is no exaggeration to say that we will transform millions of lives. We are not entering into this new campaign lightly. It will take international effort, expertise, time and – most importantly – your ongoing support. WITH YOUR HELP WE ARE DETERMINED TO SEE: THE BAN ON BARREN CAGES FOR LAYING HENS EXTENDED TO ‘ENRICHED’ CAGES. THE BAN ON SOW STALLS EXTENDED TO INCLUDE THE FIRST FOUR WEEKS OF PREGNANCY.

WE NEED YOU

AN END TO THE USE OF RESTRICTIVE FARROWING CRATES FOR SOWS AND THEIR PIGLETS. OFFICIAL RECOGNITION THAT KEEPING DUCKS AND GEESE IN CAGES IS ILLEGAL. AN END TO THE USE OF CAGES FOR FARMED RABBITS.

We’ll be reaching out for your help to protect rabbits in the coming months, and we hope you’ll join us as we take the next steps towards cage-free farming in Europe. With your support, we will campaign against all farm animal cages. 12

The ﬁrst focus of our campaign will be the barren battery rabbit cage. Rabbits are the second most farmed animal in the EU – with almost 350 million reared for meat every year. And almost all of these animals are kept in barren cages. Thanks to your donations, we were able to go undercover to expose the overcrowded, squalid conditions endured by Europe’s caged rabbits. Your support has also enabled our expert team to carry out detailed, international research into more humane alternatives. As a result, we are now poised to launch our campaign for a ban on unacceptable barren cages.

BY ERADICATING ALL CAGES, WE CAN TRANSFORM MILLIONS OF LIVES.

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PROVEN TO BE CRUEL AND CLEARLY ILLEGAL

he force feeding of ducks and geese to make their livers swell to ﬁve times their normal size has been shown to be cruel. Experts including the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation and the European Food Safety Authority agree that foie gras production has severe welfare implications. As well as the force feeding, which leads to the death of more than a million birds per year, the cages in which the birds are conﬁned are amongst the most restrictive and barren of all farming cages.

Compassion, along with other welfare organisations, has been engaged in a long struggle to see an end to foie gras production. Make no mistake, we are making headway. In 2012 we helped stop the building of a new foie gras factory, to the beneﬁt of 100 million geese, and in the same year we worked with Coop Italia to get foie gras off their shelves. Progress is painfully slow, but we have recently ramped up the pressure in advance of new ofﬁcials taking up positions at the EU Commission. We are working with a coalition of organisations demanding that the President of the Commission takes action on this issue as a priority.

The individual cages shown in the picture above are now illegal and are supposed to be being phased out, yet they are still commonly used. What is more, the group cages that are being used to replace them, in many instances, do not comply with the Council of Europe Recommendations for space and bedding.

In the UK we are working on two fronts. With your help, and with other organisations, we have been pushing the iconic store Fortnum and Mason to stop selling foie gras. They remain stubbornly intractable, so we are also pushing the UK government to investigate the possibility of an import ban.

We argue that the force feeding process itself is also illegal across Europe, as the Commission’s own regulations prohibit: “[providing] food or liquid in a manner... which may cause unnecessary suffering or injury”.

Together we will stop foie gras production. We will keep ﬁghting until this most nefarious element of the factory farming machine is gone for good.

Foie gras producing countries side step this regulation by claiming its production is a “cultural tradition”.

TAKE ACTION We’re calling on the Presidents of the Commission and EU Agriculture Council to take urgent action. More than 100,000 people have already taken action. Please sign our online letter to the Presidents so we can ban foie gras in Europe once and for all: ciwf.org/foiegras

There are some farming systems which can be improved to reduce suffering. But there are some that are just so inherently inhumane, that the only solution is to get them consigned to the history books; the production of foie gras is one of them.

INSIGHT

JAMIE OLIVER HELPS

BETTER CHICKEN TAKE FLIGHT In April 2014, our US team launched our new Better Chicken Initiative. With support from Jamie Oliver, our aim is simple: to transform how chickens are reared for meat in the USA. Leah Garces, Director of Compassion USA, reports on progress.

he USA is the world’s largest chicken meat producer, rearing more than 8 billion of the 55 billion chickens consumed globally every year. 95% of all farmed animals in the US are meat chickens. These chickens are forced to grow unnaturally fast and kept in overcrowded, dimly lit and often ﬁlthy conditions.

There is little legislation to protect these animals and US consumers are extremely limited for choice when it comes to higher welfare chicken. In response, Compassion USA is upping the ante. Building on the success of our Georgians for Pastured Poultry campaign (now in its third year and with nearly 100 US restaurants now taking part in Georgia, New York City and Charleston), your support has helped us to launch the Better Chicken Initiative to raise greater public awareness about the plight of meat chickens in the world’s largest economy. When you walk into a supermarket or restaurant in the United States, consumers are hard pressed to ﬁnd anything but factory farmed chicken on the shelf or menu. It’s time that changed. This is why we are asking food companies to step up to the plate and improve the lives of the one animal we farm the most – chickens.

I support the Better Chicken Initiative because I want to raise the bar of standard chickens to a totally different level – one that is affordable, accessible and that I would feed to my own kids. If it is successful, this initiative will improve the lives of millions, perhaps billions, of chickens and create a healthier food and farming system.

an enriched environment, natural light to encourage natural behaviour, like scratching and wing ﬂapping, and using genetics that don’t inherently cause suffering. At the time of writing, 35,000 people have signed the petition for Better Chicken, and the campaign has received some media attention in the US, from Heritage Radio to the trendy Slate magazine. To see the Better Chicken Initiative for yourself, visit www.better-chicken.org

Jamie Oliver

The Initiative includes a public petition and short ﬁlm featuring Jamie Oliver. It asks food companies to improve the lives of chickens by giving them enough room to move around freely,

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ACTION

Our Farmageddon campaign has continued its meteoric rise. Launched to expose the true cost of factory farming – for animals, people and the planet – we are busy engaging the public, business leaders and politicians alike.

t the heart of the campaign is our book Farmageddon: The True Cost of Cheap Meat – written by Compassion’s CEO, Philip Lymbery with political journalist, Isabel Oakeshott. Published in early 2014, this eyeopening book exposes how factory farming endangers not only farm animals but also the precious natural world and indeed, our own health and wellbeing. At the time of writing, it is being printed for the fourth time. The book provides a stark warning of a dystopian future but also offers an alternative positive vision of how things could be, if only we make the right choices; if we choose to raise animals on farms and on the land, rather than in factories.

prestigious Hay Festival of Literature, York Festival of Ideas and Aye Write! Festival in Glasgow. And on Saturday 12th July, hundreds of Compassion supporters gathered at London’s Royal Geographic Society to ‘Meet the Team’ behind the Farmageddon campaign. Thank you to those supporters who came – it was an inspirational day for all of us Farmageddon has now gone global. We launched the book in South Africa in April, then Canada and, most recently, the United States. It is due to launch in India later this year. Our message is getting through to millions of people on every continent. And we couldn’t have done it without you.

FARMAGEDDON ON TOUR

BANKING ON BRUTALITY

Following a successful launch in London, hosted by Joanna Lumley, Philip Lymbery has undertaken a gruelling world-wide tour to get Farmageddon to the widest possible audience.

Building on the book’s publicity, our Farmageddon campaign has been exposing and challenging the global money ﬂows that are supporting cruel factory farming.

In February, Philip took our message to politicians in Brussels, sharing a platform with world-famous Olivier De Schutter – the then UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. From Brussels, Philip joined the UK literary festival circuit, speaking at important events such as the

We’re investigating the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in particular. It is a public bank funded through the taxes we pay, but it’s not taking our concerns on board. Even though many people are outraged at the dangers posed by factory farming, the EBRD is still “banking on brutality”.

Between 2002 and 2011, it’s estimated that the EBRD spent 218 million Euros on farm animal projects. We’ve explored several EBRD-funded farms and the results are shocking: animal and farm worker abuse; environmental damage; local communities driven to the edge. And our investigation is just the start; wherever you go in the world, you ﬁnd the same stories of destruction. Factory farming doesn’t work. All of this is happening despite the EBRD claiming that it seeks to ensure that the projects it ﬁnances are “sustainable”. We continue to challenge the EBRD to face up to their mistakes and stop bankrolling factory farming. We’ve created a petition targeting the EBRD Board of Governors who hold the power to stop this madness. You can help us put even more pressure on the bank to stop funding factory farms by signing our online petition at farmageddon.co/money Thank you for continuing to support Compassion in World Farming. Your generosity allows us to challenge those who are promoting factory farming, such as the EBRD. Together, we must avert Farmageddon. Farmageddon is available in all good bookshops and all royalties from the book go to fund the work of Compassion in World Farming.

HOW MUCH HAS BEEN ‘INVESTED’ IN YOUR NAME Sixty-four countries own a stake in the EBRD. We’ve worked out how much of the bank each individual resident in these countries ‘owns’. Have a look below and find your country (listed alphabetically) to see how much has been invested in your name (rounded to the nearest Euro).

Albania Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Canada Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Egypt Estonia Finland France FYR Macedonia Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Korea, Republic of Kosovo Kyrgyz Republic Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Mexico Moldova Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Netherlands New Zealand Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russian Federation Serbia Slovak Republic Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Tajikistan Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Ukraine United Kingdom United States of America Uzbekistan

€5 €2 €6 € 38 €1 €3 € 29 €6 € 15 € 14 € 12 € 16 € 11 € 30 €0 € 11 € 32 € 19 €4 €3 € 15 €9 € 11 € 44 €9 € 11 € 20 €9 €1 €2 €3 €1 €2 €7 € 76 €5 € 52 €2 €0 €4 €0 €3 €0 € 21 €1 € 35 €5 €6 €3 €4 €9 € 11 € 14 € 10 € 34 € 40 €1 €0 €2 €0 €2 € 19 €4 €1

ACTION

ST UNITED AGANIN SPORT LIVE ANIMAL TRA

Compassion in World Farming is taking the fight against live animal transport to the streets.

ompassion in World Farming has long called for for the end of all long distance live transport. When European animals are exported outside of the EU, they leave behind them every shred of legal protection they once received. The result can mean squalid housing, brutal handling, torturous restraint systems, and slow, painful slaughter. Compassion is particularly concerned about the growth in the live exports trade from Ireland to countries outside the EU. We have received reports of animals travelling from Ireland to as far as Kazakhstan, a journey of more than 4,000km. On 16th May 2014, Compassion joined forces with ARAN (Animal Rights Action Network) on the streets of Dublin. The Irish Agriculture Minister, Simon Coveney MP, held an animal welfare conference on this day but neglected to discuss the important issue of live exports. Minister Coveney has taken no action to safeguard the welfare of Irish animals exported outside of the EU, where they are unprotected by European laws. We couldn’t let this pass unchallenged, so we held a joint demonstration outside the conference.

We were delighted with the turn out. Hundreds of supporters gathered to show Mr Coveney that long distance transport for farm animals is simply unacceptable, and we were lucky to get the support of pedestrians, drivers and the police! On 3rd July, we took to the streets again, this time in London. Working with our friends at the RSPCA, we organised a march through the streets of London, ending at the offices of Defra. The photos opposite show just how many people marched against the trade. Together, we have been calling on the government to stop this trade, but so far no action has been taken whatsoever. Our demonstration clearly told Defra that this isn’t good enough, that we will not give up, and we will stand up for exported animals. Events like this, and the media coverage they generate, serve to keep the issue of live exports on the agenda. The Irish and British governments might find our events an unwelcome reminder of public opinion, but we are determined to hold them to account until they finally take action to end live exports.

WHAT WE’RE DOING Taking on the global live animal transport trade is a huge task. Compassion is committed to ﬁghting the battle on a number of fronts: 1. Ending live exports from the UK. 2. Reducing the maximum journey time across the EU. 3. Ending exports from the EU to non-EU countries. 4. Ensuring international legislation and guidelines on the welfare of animals in transport and slaughter are enforced.

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– THE PHILOSOPHER –

PETER SINGER

` We have to have a global outlook as factory farming is a global problem. So you have the right name: Compassion in World Farming.

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ompassion had the huge honour of welcoming legendary moral philosopher, professor and animal advocate, Peter Singer, to our Godalming headquarters in June earlier this year. Peter is well known for his book, Animal Liberation, which helped kick-start the modern animal welfare movement.

now inﬂicting pain on millions of animals in laboratories and factory farms. I had seen the word “speciesism” used in a pamphlet on vivisection written by Richard Ryder, and I agreed that our attitude to other species was in some respects parallel with racism. My wife and I became vegetarian. But I wanted to do more. Together, with a handful of other Oxford students, I contacted Compassion in World Farming and spoke to Peter Roberts. We had a display in Oxford and he brought up not just leaﬂets and posters, but a model calf in a veal crate and model hens in a battery cage! People were shocked.

Here, he shares his stories about his journey to becoming one of the world’s pre-eminent thought-leaders on animal issues, how he came to know Compassion’s founder, Peter Roberts, and how society needs to extend the circle of compassion toward animals.

A pioneering collection of essays on the topic called Animals, Men & Morals, co-edited by my friends Stanley and Roslind Godlovitch and John Harris, was published by Gollancz in the UK, but ignored by the media. When, in 1973, it appeared in the US, I managed to persuade the New York Review of Books to publish my review of it in 1973. This led to them publishing Animal Liberation in 1975.

I got my degree in Philosophy at the University of Melbourne and came on a scholarship to Oxford University in 1969. This was a time of protest movements – against the Vietnam War and racism, the growth of the feminist movement. There was, at that time, no animal rights movement.

Am I pleased with progress? No, because so many animals are still in factory farms. Meat consumption in China is shooting up. You have a live export problem here [in the UK] and my own native country, Australia, is still exporting millions of live animals every year, often to be slaughtered in appalling conditions.

One day at Oxford, I went for lunch with Richard Keshen, a Canadian student, and heard him ask: “Does the pasta dish contain meat?” It did, so he had salad and I had the pasta. I asked him “What’s your problem with meat?” He said, “I don’t think we ought to be doing to animals what we do to turn them into meat.” He explained factory farming to me and for the ﬁrst time I learned that millions of animals were now living crowded inside sheds, often in stalls and cages.

But I am thrilled that the worst crate and cage systems have been banned in Europe. It’s amazing what Compassion in World Farming has helped to achieve! It’s starting to happen in the US with the ban on these systems coming into force in California at the beginning of next year. At the referendum held in that state in 2008, these bans got a bigger share of the vote than Obama! Public thinking is changing, in the UK, in Europe, and in Australia and the US. Even in China we see student animal rights groups emerging.

At his suggestion, I read Ruth Harrison’s Animal Machines and realised that here is a huge ethical issue, largely untouched. What justiﬁcation is there for the way we exploit animals? Aristotle said that the less rational exist to serve the more rational. This was also the view of the mediaeval Christian philosopher Aquinas. Man’s dominion seemed set in stone.

We have to have a global outlook as factory farming is a global problem. So you have the right name: Compassion in World Farming.

Descartes declared that animals are automata, like clocks. The fact that they make noises does not mean that they are conscious beings. Even Kant said that because animals are not self-conscious, they are a means to our ends, not ends in themselves.

I wondered why self-consciousness should be the criterion? I favoured the Utilitarian view so well put by Jeremy Bentham: ‘it’s not whether animals can reason or speak that matters, but whether they can suffer. The pleasure and pain felt by animals ought not to be disregarded because they are not members of our species’. We were

Peter’s book that helped to kickstart the modern animal welfare movement.

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YOUR PASSION FOR COMPASSION IS AMAZING! THANK YOU!

KNEAD TO KNOW It’s time to don your aprons and grab your mixing bowls again for our annual fundraiser, Bake with Compassion! October is the month to hold your event, however big or small. Perhaps you could get your bake on with a family member, like the Shortcake Sisters did last year. By asking friends to sell their tasty treats at work, they brought in an astounding £181 – and raised awareness in the process. Alternatively, you could hold a themed bake sale at a local event, or stick to a smaller scale event by selling your bakes to friends and family.

Below are a selection of previous Bake with Compassion offerings.

However you choose to join in, every penny and every ounce of awareness raised for Compassion are absolutely fantastic as they allow us to continue our work, ﬁghting for better farm animal welfare.

Ingredients

for a perfect ‘Bake with Compassion’ event: Higher welfare or vegan products Your fundraising pack which can be downloaded from ciwf.org/bake or ordered from 01483 521953 An event at your workplace, at home, or at a local event

Shortcake Sisters

Friends, family and general cake purchasers! GET IN TOUCH October is our official Bake with Compassion month, but if you’d like to organise an event another time, please get in touch and we’d be delighted to help you. Tel: +44 (0) 1483 521 953 Email: supporters@ciwf.org Clare – West Sussex

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DECADES OF COMMITMENT TO ANIMALS

WE REMEMBER...

At a recent demonstration against the live exports trade in Dublin (see page 18), our campaign ofﬁcer, Pru, was delighted to meet Ann Dempsey, a longtime supporter of Compassion. After years of active campaigning, at 82, Ann decided to have one last protest before hanging up her placard. We are so grateful for Ann’s commitment over the years – she is a true inspiration! Thank you.

Madeleine was a staunch Compassion supporter of the live exports demos during the 1990s, which were always enlivened by her passion, pizzazz and style. She gained local fame by jumping into a pond in Richmond Park to rescue a drowning dog.

WHAT A RAFFLE! At Compassion, we know we’ve got the best supporters around, but you still manage to surprise us. In our spring rafﬂe, supporter David Holman won our top prize of £2,000. As well as several decades of donations to Compassion, he chose to donate the whole prize back to us! We’d like to say an enormous thank you to David for this incredibly generous donation, and of course, to all of those who took part in the rafﬂe. For the full list of winners, please see page 2.

Madeleine Carritt

THANK YOU SIR PETER

Every year, the proceeds from The Annual Sir Peter O’Sullevan Charitable Trust Luncheon and Christmas card sale are shared equally between six leading animal welfare charities including Compassion in World Farming. Sir Peter has long been an advocate of Compassion and is deeply committed to animal welfare.

Joyce Smith Formerly a farmer, Joyce became a dedicated supporter of Compassion, often alerting us to stories in the farming media. She courted her local MP, one David Cameron (!), offering him tea, biscuits and a dose of Compassion campaigns. She obviously made an impact as, when our own Joyce (D’Silva) was introduced to Mr Cameron, his ﬁrst remark was: “Oh, I know all about Compassion in World Farming – Joyce Smith is in my constituency!”

This year, he was delighted to present a cheque for £180,000 to his chosen charities with each of us receiving an incredible £30,000. Thank you to Sir Peter, his fellow Trustees and to all our friends who bought last year’s Christmas card for their generous support.

DID YOU KNOW?

Another amazing way you can support Compassion’s work is by remembering us when writing your Will. You might be interested in our free Will-writing service – for information please get in touch by phoning 01483 521 953 or emailing legacy@ciwf.org

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Your support for Compassion in World Farming is making a difference to the lives of millions of farmed animals across the world.

TOGETHER, WE ARE CHANGING THE WAY THE WORLD IS THINKING ABOUT FARM ANIMALS AND FOOD. THANK YOU.

Compassion in World Farming, River Court, Mill Lane, Godalming, Surrey, GU7 1EZ, UK Tel: +44 (0)1483 521 953 Email: supporters@ciwf.org Web ciwf.org Compassion in World Farming is a registered charity (England), registered number 1095050.