What are we doing?

We believe that the law must be improved and properly enforced to ensure that all farmed animals have a quiet, painless and humane end to their lives. We’re working in a number of different ways to try to achieve this.

Lobbying for change and giving practical advice
Whenever possible, RSPCA staff visit abattoirs, view the practices, and give advice on how animal welfare improvements could be made. Our specialist farm animals department staff also work with and lobby the government (both UK and EU), food retailers, abattoirs and the farming industry to make changes for the better.

Developing RSPCA welfare standards for farm animals
We are able to improve the lives of millions of farm animals each year using our RSPCA welfare standards for farm animals. These have been developed for nine of the major, farmed species and include hundreds of requirements to ensure higher standards of welfare for all animals reared accordingly. Each document includes sections of requirements, based on scientific evidence and practical experience, to ensure humane handling and slaughter/killing.

What can be done to improve the way in which animals are slaughtered/killed?
We propose the following improvements.
 

• Every abattoir must appoint a specially trained Animal Welfare Officer to oversee the welfare of all animals at the slaughterhouse.
   
• All slaughtermen must be supervised, and be effectively trained and competent, to ensure they are aware of the importance of animal welfare and careful handling, and stun and stick animals properly.
   
• For electrical stunning, methods should be used that stun and kill the animal at the same time wherever possible. Minimum stunning currents for each species should be required by law, with automatic recording to monitor the level of current used and the duration of the stunning.
   
• Defra guidelines should be fully implemented immediately to prevent further welfare problems.
   

What is the RSPCA doing about religious slaughter?
We recognise that religious beliefs and practices should be respected. We also believe that it is important to ensure that animals are slaughtered under the most humane conditions possible.

Scientific research has clearly shown that slaughter of an animal without stunning can cause unnecessary suffering, and so we are opposed to the slaughter of any animal without first making it insensible to pain and distress.

We continue to press for changes in the law that would improve the welfare of all animals at the time of slaughter. Until this occurs, we propose the following.
 

• The Jewish and Muslim communities in the UK should review their slaughter practices.
  
  In New Zealand, for example, all animals slaughtered by the Halal method are stunned before slaughter, and all animals slaughtered by the Kosher method are stunned shortly after the cut is made in the animal’s neck. Similar progress has already been made in some abattoirs in the UK and this should be extended to cover all animals slaughtered by religious methods.
   
• All meat produced from animals that have not been stunned before slaughter should be clearly labelled, so that consumers can choose whether or not to eat / buy it.
   

If you share our concerns about animal welfare at slaughter, you may be interested to know more about how you can help.