The video released in June 2020 by the animal rights association L214 had splashed the Roquefort industry. Filmed on a farm in Aveyron then in the Arcadie Sud-Ouest slaughterhouse, near Rodez, it showed lambs limping, coughing, or dying, others hurting or not dizzy on the blood-stained conveyor belt. This, despite a 2016 veterinary services report which already reported non-compliant killing practices.
Three years later, the former director of the site, its production director and the general director of Arcadie appeared on Wednesday before the Rodez criminal court. They recognized “non-compliance with good practices” and “accidental acts”, which they explained by a lack of staff. Stéphanie Boutaric, one of the defense lawyers, regretted that only the managers of the slaughterhouse appeared before the courts: “Where are the operators? Where are the 17 veterinarians who were on site and did nothing? “, she raised.
The director “let it happen”
“In this case, everyone shifts the responsibility to each other and turns a blind eye to their participation,” ruled prosecutor Esther Paillette. She denounced “a total inaction of the company’s managers, while the formal notices were particularly numerous” after the 2016 report.
The prosecutor thus requested the heaviest sentence, six months suspended prison sentence, against the director of the site, considering that he had “let this happen with a central role”. She requested a 4,000 euro fine against the general director of Arcadia and a 2,000 euro fine for the site’s production director. Against the company, in compulsory liquidation since July 2020, the prosecutor requested a fine of 50,000 euros. The court will deliver its deliberations on October 18.
Eta also condemned
“The animal welfare rules are minimal and we don’t even respect them,” regretted Me Hélène Thouy, lawyer for L214, civil party in this case. In May, the Montpellier administrative court had already ordered the State to pay 4,500 euros to L214 in this case, for having allowed the acts of mistreatment to continue by not putting in place sufficient controls.
After the video was broadcast, the Ministry of Agriculture suspended the approval of Arcadie Sud Ouest, the company managing the slaughterhouse, citing “unacceptable practices”. The slaughterhouse has since been taken over by a cooperative.