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Animal welfare | Video shows animal cruelty at the Tönnies slaughterhouse
Up to a million pigs are killed every year in a slaughterhouse in Kellinghusen. Animal Rights Watch accuses the company of animal cruelty.
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The Tönnies Group has often been criticized for animal cruelty. A recent incident documents serious grievances in Kellinghusen, Schleswig-Holstein. Photo: dpa/Friso Gentsch Hamburg. The animal protection organization Animal Rights Watch (Ariwa) has published secretly recorded videos on NDR that show serious animal welfare violations at the R. Thomsen slaughterhouse in Kellinghusen, Schleswig-Holstein. The company belongs to the Tönnies slaughter company.
The recordings document numerous violations of animal welfare law on at least four days of slaughter: pigs are hit in the face and trapped in gates. Animals unable to walk are kicked or pushed violently with machines. Several pigs have their feet cut off before they die. The permissible time interval between anesthesia and bleeding is regularly exceeded. The recordings also show how animals with signs of incorrect anesthesia are bled.
“Completely different employees do all of this,” says Anna Schubert, spokeswoman for Ariwa, in a statement. »This animal cruelty is a systemic problem, not an exception. If an animal doesn't want to walk, it is forced. If a foot gets caught in the conveyor belt, it will just be cut off. In this assembly line work, the process cannot stand still.«
Tönnies announced to NDR that the allegations would be reviewed. If violations of the planned processes are confirmed, these would be sanctioned, the company explained. Schubert criticized Tönnies for shifting responsibility onto the employees instead of taking responsibility itself. "The problem is not individual people, but a system of industrial exploitation."
The animal protection officer for Schleswig-Holstein, Katharina Erdmann, calls for the allegations to be dealt with consistently and legally. The public prosecutor's office is currently examining a corresponding complaint from Ariwa. The Schleswig-Holstein Ministry of Agriculture also emphasizes to NDR that it takes information from the images very seriously and follows up on them. nd
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