Like a duck to water
Our new campaign doesn’t make for great reading! Sadly millions of ducks farmed for meat in the UK are being denied access to one of their most basic requirements – bathing water!
Ducks are water birds and they have evolved to be in and around water, yet millions kept on UK farms never get to experience full body access to water – the RSPCA believes this is unacceptable.
TAKE ACTION NOW!
Britain's forgotten farm animal
‘84 per cent of people have never considered how ducks are reared for meat’
Over 14 million ducks were farmed last year, which made them the third most farmed animal for meat in the UK. However, most people do not know the truth about how farmed ducks are reared.
The RSPCA’s ‘Like a duck to water’ campaign aims to improve the lives of farmed ducks and ensure they are provided with the right environment.
Eloise Shavelar, RSPCA campaigner said:
More ducks are being reared in the UK but sadly welfare appears to be getting worse.
We've all grown up seeing ducks on ponds at the park and naturally assume farmed ducks must have bathing water too - incredibly that is not the case.
Please help make life better for Britain’s forgotten farm animal.
Take action today
Most UK supermarkets fail to insist that the duck meat they sell comes from farms that provide ducks with full body access to bathing water.
Watch the sad story of Jennifer the duck, then do your bit by taking action to make sure supermarkets “Don’t duck the issue”.
It’s up to us, as customers, to tell them it’s time to change. Together we can give this story a happy ending.
- Farmed meat ducks
Find out all about ducks farmed for meat and our important work to try to improve their welfare.
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British Poultry Council release statement that is misleading
To bathe is to immerse one’s body in water (Oxford dictionary). The RSPCA believes it is misleading for the British Poultry Council to claim that the Duck Assurance Scheme provides ducks with bathing water when in reality they only insist that farms provide a channel of water that is just a few centimetres wide, a few centimetres deep and that only allows ducks to get their heads in. It is like going to a hotel which has promised you can have a bath but finding you have only got a handbasin!
Read our full response here: RSPCA statement - Duck to water campaign (PDF 301KB)