Eyes on Animals visited Beerten slaughterhouse in Zieuwent on 2nd October 2019. Mainly piglets and cattle are slaughtered at Beerten. Initially we were pleased that Beerten was open to our visit.
Unfortunately, during our time at Beerten we found a number of serious animal welfare problems. The piglets were stunned manually using electric tongs. The tongs were often incorrectly placed due to piglets moving, this resulted in them receiving a painful electric shock (before the stunning took place) and the stunning, in our opinion, sometimes being ineffective. Furthermore, the piglets were bled late due to two piglets being stunned one after the other, before being bled, causing an unnecessary delay. The piglets should be stunned and bled one at a time to avoid the risk of them regaining consciousness. Finally, we saw piglets that we thought were not fit for transport. The stunning of the cattle went well.
If animal welfare problems are found during a slaughterhouse visit, Eyes on Animals gives advice on how these problems can be solved and we immediately start working with the slaughterhouse on this. In this way Eyes on Animals has already helped many slaughterhouses improve. Beerten has also received an extensive advisory report from us highlighting our concerns.
Unfortunately, Beerten has indicated that they do not want our advice. We have contacted Beerten several times in the hope that they would change their mind, but unfortunately without result. Because we cannot ignore our concerns regarding the stunning at Beerten, we informed the official authorities about our findings. They have (where necessary) taken measures.
