Exclusive
Status: 01/24/2023 3:00 p.m
After research by Report Mainz animals were slaughtered in North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg without anesthetic and without a permit. This emerges from recordings by animal rights activists. The slaughterhouses were then temporarily closed.
The slaughterhouse in North Rhine-Westphalia is located west of Cologne. The area is fenced off, behind which cattle are waiting to be slaughtered. But that will probably never happen again in this company. Because the official veterinarians responsible sealed the operation a few days ago and thus closed the slaughterhouse for the time being.
The reason is the pictures Report Mainz were leaked and which the political magazine showed to the competent veterinary office. They prove that company employees grab sheep by their hind legs with brute force and drag them into the slaughter room. There they cut their throats without anesthesia. This form of slaughter is called slaughter and is only permitted in exceptional cases in Germany. In NRW, no slaughterhouse has such an approval for slaughter without stunning by a veterinary authority.
Legal situation is clear
Jan Peifer from the German Animal Welfare Office Report Mainz who sent the recordings is surprised at the result of the undercover research. Cameras had been recording events in the slaughterhouse for only two weeks, and scenes of illegal slaughter could have been recorded almost every working day.
Animals were illegally slaughtered in a slaughterhouse in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Image: German Animal Welfare Office
The operator lets a spokesman say that he knew nothing about the events. The boss can’t always be there either.
The responsible district office in the Rhein-Erft district reacted immediately after taking note of the recordings. The authority shared Report Mainz with: “After the first viewing of the video material, it was decided to immediately prohibit further slaughtering in the company in order to prevent further suffering of animals. The company was shut down for this purpose. Criminal charges have been filed against the employees and the owner.”
Jews and Muslims in particular eat meat from slaughtered animals for religious reasons. Most of the meat is currently imported legally from neighboring countries. The European Court of Justice recently clarified the conditions under which slaughterhouses in Germany are allowed to slaughter in accordance with the law. As a result, only animals who have a special permit from the veterinary authorities are allowed to slaughter animals in Germany. Nevertheless, slaughterers keep ignoring it, as in a second current case in Baden-Württemberg.
Legal violations also in Baden-Württemberg
In the district of Ludwigsburg, PETA animal rights activists managed to document scenes similar to those in North Rhine-Westphalia over the turn of the year. The scenes, also shot undercover, show people in street clothes entering the slaughter room together with a butcher. A little boy is there. The men have brought a knife, the butcher holds the sheep and allows the visitor to saw through the animal’s neck.
PETA’s Scarlett Treml is particularly appalled that the butcher starts skinning and cutting open the sheep during the bleeding process. Meanwhile, the animal shows strong defensive movements and kicks for a very long time.
The responsible veterinary office in the district of Ludwigsburg sees the initial suspicion of a criminal offense and has prohibited the company from slaughtering until further notice with immediate effect. The case was submitted to the public prosecutor for further investigation, the authority said. In addition, according to research by Report Mainz Last year, no special permits for slaughtering without stunning were granted in Baden-Württemberg either.
The owner of the slaughterhouse explained in an interview with the ARD-Political magazine that he was not in the office that day. An employee carried out these slaughterings illegally without his knowledge. Later he explains that it is being examined how such cases can be prevented.
Only in Hesse there is a special permit
Report Mainz asked all the responsible state ministries nationwide whether special permits for shafts had been granted for 2022 or the current year. Result: only Hesse allowed a company to slaughter 100 sheep per year.
The research raises further questions. Why were the veterinary authorities responsible for inspecting the slaughterhouses unable to detect these cases?
Report Mainz discussed this question with an official veterinarian from Reutlingen, Thomas Buckenmaier. He explains that official veterinarians are overwhelmed here. Because there would be no slaughter during controls. Such investigations could only be carried out undercover with hidden cameras. Animal welfare activists are now banking on the animal cruelty found being severely punished by slaughtering without anesthetic.
You can see more on this and other topics at 9:50 p.m. at Report Mainz in the first.