P-04-433 CCTV in Slaughterhouses. Correspondence – Petitioner to the Committee. 15.09.2016
Dear Petitions Committee,
I wanted to thank you for your continued interest in the campaign to effectively monitor the welfare of animals in slaughterhouses via independently-monitored CCTV cameras. The recent case of the Llanybydder slaughterhouse worker who was caught stabbing a colleague on CCTV is a reminder of the many other practical applications that cameras have in slaughterhouses.
There have been some developments, not least that Israel will have installed mandatory cameras inside all slaughterhouses by the end of this year, and the footage will be centrally monitored. This is in response to animal welfare abuses found by campaigners.
And, of course, there have been even more exposés here in the UK, with two slaughterhouses in court resulting in one man being jailed for 10 months and banned from keeping animals for a number of years, while the second case is due to be heard in court soon. But, some very worrying news is that another court case may have collapsed because the Food Standards Agency failed to bring the case to court in time. This raises some serious concerns about whether the FSA is detecting the alleged abuses that groups such as Animal Aid are finding, and whether it understands the timescales within which cases need to be presented to court once it is in possession of information in respect of particular allegations.
Finally, a new report from Sheffield University has outlined the mechanism, costs and funding options for monitoring CCTV footage by an independent body. Professor Ian Rotherham, the report’s author, states: ‘The clear conclusion is that the current system of welfare monitoring is failing and that compulsory use of CCTV with independent monitoring is the only robust solution.’
He presents a sliding scale of staff costs depending on how much footage would be monitored from each of England’s 260 slaughterhouse per year. He calculated that, if six hours of footage was to be checked, the staff costs would be in the region of £45,900, while if 36 hours of footage was to be assessed, these costs would rise to £283,500. Obviously, the costs for Wales would be very much lower given there are raw fewer slaughterhouses there. I have attached a copy of that report should you be interested.
Please do let me know if I can be of further assistance. I will ensure you are kept up to date with development on this campaign.
Kind regards,
Kate Fowler
Animal Aid
Registered in the UK as Animal Abuse Injustice and Defence Society. Company number 1787309.