Animal Aid

100 Days in Government: 100 Days of Failing Animals

Since the Coalition government came to power, there has been a significant erosion of animal protection measures on several fronts, according to animal protection group, Animal Aid. Some of the steps taken - such as markedly reducing veterinary cover in 'livestock' markets - have fallen under the convenient banner of 'cost-cutting'. Others are clearly designed to reduce the regulations placed on bloodsports industries.

Slaughterhouse Closed After Animal Aid Exposé

A&G Barber - the Essex slaughterhouse secretly filmed by Animal Aid inflicting shocking cruelty on pigs - has been forced to close as a result of the undercover investigation.

Battery Cows

Three years ago, Animal Aid released footage taken inside four of Britain's zero grazing dairy units. Inside the sheds, dairy cows live in almost permanent confinement with some animals never able to get outside at all.

Our report, Battery Cows: zero grazing and the dairy industry demanded answers from the government. Instead, we got platitudes and a shifting of goal posts as they tried to convince us that 'levels of stockmanship' were highest on zero grazing farms.

Congratulations to St Ives Town Council!

Animal Aid has today issued heartfelt thanks to St Ives Town Council for taking the progressive decision to formulate an animal welfare charter, based on the articles in our Compassionate Charter, showing themselves to be at the forefront of ethical local governance.

There’s nothing ‘glorious’ about the twelfth

With the so-called Glorious Twelfth now upon us, Animal Aid offers several reasons why this bird-killing festival is nothing to celebrate.

As well as the hundreds of thousands of grouse victims, a large number of native birds and mammals who interfere with the ‘sport’ are trapped, poisoned or snared. Victims include stoats, weasels, and even iconic raptors such as hen harriers, red kites and golden eagles. And that is just the start of the problems.

Animal experiments at Cardiff University rise by 13%

An investigation by the Wales on Sunday newspaper has revealed that animal experiments at Cardiff University have risen by 13% since 2006. In the past four years, the University used more than 190,000 animals in research, including mice, fish, birds, guinea pigs, cats, rabbits and tree shrews from South-East Asia. It was responsible for 96% of all animal tests at Welsh universities.

Special offer with Animal Aid goods

If you spend £25 or more on any Animal Aid merchandise today, you can also buy a copy of the acclaimed book, The Morello Letters, worth £9.99 for just £1! The books have been generously donated to Animal Aid by the author, Duncan McNair. He was so moved by a report in the Sunday Times about our shocking undercover film taken in slaughterhouses, that he wishes to support our campaign for the installation of CCTV cameras.

Ask your MP to Sign EDM Against Battery Cages for Breeding ‘Game Birds’

Please ask your MP to support Adrian Sanders’ Early Day Motion (EDM 224) against using battery cages for ‘game birds’ who are kept for breeding purposes. Jim Paice, the coalition government’s Hunting and Shooting Minister, laid a new Code, allowing the cages, before Parliament on 22 July, so it is imperative to mobilise the support of compassionate MPs as soon as possible.

Small drop in animal experiments masks a still-dismal picture

The government has revealed that more than 3.6 million experiments were conducted on animals in British laboratories in 2009. This represents a 1% decrease on 2008. However, given that 2008 saw a massive 14% increase on the previous 12 months, the newly announced reduction gives little, if any, cause for celebration.

Save the Hunting Act

Prime Minister David Cameron has indicated that he wishes to see an end to the Hunting Act. This law – which is supported by the majority of the public – took decades to pass. If the law is repealed, fox, deer and hare hunting will be made legal again, and so will the horrific ‘sport’ of hare coursing.

Cheltenham’s notorious killer fence to be moved

After three years of campaigning, Animal Aid has succeeded in getting Cheltenham Racecourse to remove a notoriously dangerous fence from its position at the bottom of the racecourse hill. Since 1999, 34 horses have lost their lives at the Cheltenham Festival, which is staged every March. The second last fence (the 14th) on Cheltenham’s Old Course killed several of those horses and injured many more.

Advertising watchdog ‘strikes a ringing blow on behalf of slaughterhouse cruelty’

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that monitoring of animal welfare in British slaughterhouses is effective, despite secret filming by Animal Aid that has found serious welfare breaches in six out of seven randomly selected abattoirs. The ASA ruling came in response to a complaint about an April 2010 advert placed in six national newspapers, which sought public support for the installation of CCTV in every British abattoir.

Powerful Scenes of Animal Suffering Coming to Norwich

On Monday, 26th July, national campaign group, Animal Aid, will be visiting Norwich City Centre with a specially created artistic display of photographs that is bound to shock all animal lovers. The large photo boards depict grim scenes of dead, dying and sick animals - and all were taken in the UK. Each image reminds the viewer that by keeping animals in filth and squalor, we not only harm them, we could be harming ourselves.

Good News!! Court of Appeal Rules Against Badger Cull in Wales

Good news for badgers! The Court of Appeal has today ruled against the Welsh Assembly Government’s plan to carry out a cull of around 1,500 badgers in a 288 sq km (111 sq miles) area of south-west Wales.

URGENT! Calling Welsh Supporters

In light of the recent Judicial Review of the badger cull, which was brought by the Badger Trust, Rural Affairs Minister for the Welsh Assembly Elin Jones has accepted that the TB Eradication Order must be re-drafted. This is purely a technicality but the Order must be rewritten to apply only to the proposed cull area, rather than to the whole of Wales. To do this, she must put the revised Order before the Senedd before it closes for the summer on July 16th. We are, therefore, urging all Welsh supporters to write to their Assembly Members (and indeed as many Assembly Members as they can) to urge them to support vaccination of badgers rather than culling.

Ask Your MP to Back Early Day Motion for Racehorses

Every season the clock ticks down to death and destruction for thousands of race horses. Hundreds are shot in the head or lethally injected on racecourses or during training, due to catastrophic injury. Thousands more who lack the ability to race meet the same fate.

Portsmouth South Lib Dem MP, Mike Hancock, has tabled an important Early Day Motion (EDM) calling on the government to undertake a full audit of racehorse production, death and injury, and to make its findings public.

New Evidence Shows Why ‘Enriched’ Game Bird Cages Must Be Banned

The new Hunting and Shooting Minister, Jim Paice, has withdrawn a new Code of Practice for 'game bird' production that would have outlawed battery cages for breeding pheasants. It has been replaced by a watered down version of the Code, which will effectively allow the cages to stay – albeit in their so-called ‘enriched’ form.

Our latest undercover evidence shows that the ‘enriched’ cages do nothing to improve the miserable and bleak existence of the incarcerated birds.

Animal Aid's 2010 Christmas Fayres

This year, Animal Aid is holding three Christmas fayres around the country. Our annual flagship London event will be on Sunday 5 December at Kensington Town Hall. We are also having our fourth annual South West Christmas Without Cruelty Fayre in Exeter on Sunday 28 November at the Corn Exchange. And for the first time, we are holding a Northern Christmas Fayre in Sheffield on Saturday 6 November. We hope that you will be able to attend at at least one of these events. They all features goods from ethical companies, campaign groups, informative talks and entertainment. More details to follow.

TV presenter Wendy Turner-Webster awards young artists and poets

On Saturday June 26, talented young poets and artists from across the country came to London to attend a prize-giving ceremony, hosted by Animal Aid and TV presenter Wendy Turner-Webster.

Essex slaughterhouse exposé finds ‘unbearable cruelty and suffering’

Animal Aid has today released footage taken secretly inside an Essex slaughterhouse that kills pigs. The film, which was shot over three days in April, shows scenes of extreme and deliberately-inflicted suffering, including use of electric tongs on animals’ snouts, tails and their open mouths. It was shot at A & G Barber’s abattoir in Purleigh, and is the seventh ‘red meat’ abattoir that the national campaign group has secretly filmed since January 2009. The Barber’s footage is the most shocking of all.

Love Squirrels? Then Boycott Duchy Originals!

Prince Charles’ call for a cull of grey squirrels in Cornwall has prompted animal protection groups to describe him as ‘a man who doesn’t let his education get in the way of his ignorance’. Animal Aid and Viva! believe that the Prince’s campaign to eradicate grey squirrels – through poisoning, shooting or bludgeoning them to death in a sack – is ‘irrational, inhumane and doomed to fail’, and have called for everyone who opposes animal cruelty to boycott the Prince’s Duchy Originals range of products in protest.

Safari park cruelty revealed

Woburn Safari Park has been exposed for keeping animals in overcrowded and harmful enclosures. A report by government inspectors revealed that lions were being kept in cramped enclosures for up to 18 hours a day, despite the park's claims that its animals enjoy living in a 'natural environment'.