#ScrapFactoryFarming: Animal rights activists launch legal fight to end industrial farming in UK
Factory farming is incredibly cruel. Pregnant pigs confined in metal crates, with no room to turn around for 12 weeks a year. Calves removed from mothers within hours of birth.
JANE DALTON: Animal-welfare activists are planning a legal challenge to the government to force ministers to end factory farming in the UK to halt damage to the environment and human health… In the legal case, believed to be the first of its kind in the world, members of a group called Humane Being are crowdfunding with the aim of raising £60,000 to force ministers to curb intensive animal agriculture. They say it is a major cause of greenhouse gas emissions and risks starting new pandemics by spreading viruses, as well as causing deforestation, animal cruelty and antibiotic resistance…
The group has already written to George Eustice, the environment secretary, asking whether the issues have been considered and whether there are any plans to ban industrial farming or remove subsidies… David Finney, of Humane Being’s Scrap Factory Farming campaign, said: “We are sitting on a pandemics timebomb. Factory farming – with huge numbers of animals in cramped and unhygienic conditions – is the perfect breeding ground for these diseases”.
“We may eventually get control of Covid-19 but we are doing nothing about the conditions that created it in the first place”… “The scale of factory farming is also incredibly cruel,” he added. “Pregnant pigs are confined in metal crates before giving birth; they have no room to turn around for up to 12 weeks a year. Calves are removed from their mothers within days or even hours of birth”…
Lorna Hackett, of the legal team, said: “Dietary over-reliance on animal products produced by intensive means has created an environmental and human health imperative”… “This case, which we believe to be a global first, starts with a key mitigator – the banning of cruel factory farming. That is breeding and risking incidences of disease that pose a health risk that the authorities cannot continue to ignore”…
RSPCA members have also called for a major cut in meat and dairy consumption in what has been hailed a landmark decision after years of debate over how much the charity should speak out on climate issues… Earlier this month, RSPCA members voted at their AGM by 88 per cent to call for an end to intensive animal agriculture in the UK and for a significant cut in meat and dairy consumption to achieve the country’s climate targets.
Jane Tredgett, a former board member of the charity and the founder of Humane Being, said: “It is great to see the RSPCA getting on board with this messaging”… Peta Smith, another campaigner, said: “We hope this proves to be a landmark decision for the RSPCA. Slavery abolitionist William Wilberforce co-founded the society in 1824″…
The World Health Organisation and other UN experts have pinpointed animals or food of animal origin as a starting point for emerging diseases, such as Covid-19, and some of the world’s leading scientists have warned future pandemics are likely to be more frequent, spread more rapidly and kill more people if humanity continues to exploit animals. Livestock account for 14.5 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation. SOURCE…
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