The RSPCA has welcomed a Government review confirming that introducing mandatory CCTV in UK abattoirs benefits animal welfare and protection assurances.
The review states there is evidence to suggest that CCTV has allowed for increased identification and enforcement, and comes almost five years after mandatory CCTV was introduced in all abattoirs in England.
It comes weeks after the Welsh Government announced it would soon be following suit, following campaigning by UK animal charity the RSPCA to introduce legislation.
According to the report, this has provided an opportunity to highlight inappropriate behaviours, and to instigate further training or ensure that those who are unfit for their role can be removed.
Public support was further demonstrated by the recent RSPCA campaign in Wales which saw more than 15,000 people campaign for Wales to introduce mandatory CCTV legislation.
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Mandatory CCTV has also been integral to the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) monitoring activities in providing an extra layer of assurances for consumers, retailers and farm assurance providers regarding animal welfare standards in slaughterhouses.
“The RSPCA pioneered the use of CCTV in slaughterhouses and the legal requirements introduced were based on the RSPCA’s farm animal welfare standards,” head of farm animals at the RSPCA, Dr Marc Cooper said.
“We are, therefore, pleased to see that the evidence confirms that the installation of CCTV helps improve farm animal welfare at this critical time – vindicating this tireless campaign and its impact on animals.”
Cooper added: “The review into the success of CCTV in slaughterhouses in England further highlights how welcome it is that the Welsh Government intends to follow suit, and how we need those systems mandated in Wales as soon as is practically possible.
“However, in the future we would also like to see CCTV extended to other parts of the farm animals’ lives, as well as capitalising on advancements in Artificial Intelligence to further improve this technology, better safeguard farm animal welfare and to get to a point where there is never another incident of poor farm animal treatment.”
It comes as last month, Morrisons was been accused of using ‘excessive force’ at one of its abattoirs, after undercover filming allegedly revealed workers routinely abusing pigs.
