Animal rights organizations can count on political outrage if they come up with images of abuses at slaughterhouses. Minister of Agriculture Piet Adema (ChristenUnie) is considering taking measures to ensure that animal welfare rules are better observed in slaughterhouses.
Think of mandatory surveillance with smart cameras, but also a ban on electroshock weapons to quickly drive animals to slaughter. There must also be a stricter enforcement system, whereby a slaughterhouse must be closed permanently after three serious violations. In a letter to the House of Representatives, Minister Adema writes that too many things are going wrong at the moment during slaughter. He therefore does not respond to requests from slaughterhouses to be allowed to slaughter faster. Adema refers to recent reports from the NVWA regulator. According to the minister, this concerns, for example, pigs that end up alive in the scalding tank in the slaughterhouse and animals that are abused when they are pushed up. ‘The recent images of abuses reinforce my conviction that the sector will first have to take steps in this area.’
Make more haste
The government had already promised the House of Representatives a bill on camera surveillance this year. But that will be early next year, Adema writes, because of the privacy sensitivity and a European test that takes time, among other things. It therefore takes far too long before serious measures are taken to improve animal welfare. For years there has been talk of mandatory camera surveillance in order to tackle the horrendous and structural suffering of the animals. The minister should speed up his legislative proposal and tackle legal issues energetically.
How many images do animal organizations have to provide to demonstrate abuses at slaughterhouses? Adema seems to be working cautiously on the ban on electroshock weapons and the ‘three-strikes-out’ principle. In a while we will wonder why it has taken so long.