Thumbs up to Van Loon’s decision last year to offer a market to a Dutch organic pig farm (father and son) that wanted to stop castrating their organic piglets. Van Loon purchases, for a fair price, their intact boars and processes them through their Best Star Meat selection (the better-welfare label from Van Loon). We greatly applaud Best Star Meats from Van Loon for … [Read more...] about Thumbs up to Van Loon’s decision last year
animal welfare improvements
Hosting of conference “Phasing Out Surgical Castration in the Dutch Organic Pig Meat Sector”
Today Eyes on Animals together with Dr. Kees Scheepens (outdoor organic Dutch pig farmer, veterinarian and ethologist) hosted an international conference on phasing out surgical pig castration in the Dutch Organic Pig Meat sector. Speakers from France, UK and Germany were present, as well as Dutch pig farmers and players in the Dutch organic pork chain and … [Read more...] about Hosting of conference “Phasing Out Surgical Castration in the Dutch Organic Pig Meat Sector”
Visit to pig slaughterhouse Van Rooi for animal welfare advice
Today we visited Van Rooi pig slaughterhouse in Helmond. After a tour of the slaughterhouse we came together to brainstorm on how we could reduce stress during loading, unloading and whilst moving the pigs through the raceways. No more mixing Van Rooi is currently experimenting keeping the pigs in small social groups. Previously, there would be about 30 pigs in one … [Read more...] about Visit to pig slaughterhouse Van Rooi for animal welfare advice
Explaining how stunners work to more cattle slaughterhouses in Turkey
Today we spent another day visiting numerous Turkish cattle abattoirs to introduce the captive bolt stunner and educate on how animal suffering can at least be reduced when they are rendered first unconscious. More and more Halal consumers in Turkey are de-bunking the myth that Halal means slaughter with just a knife, and realizing Halal means "food safe to eat" and … [Read more...] about Explaining how stunners work to more cattle slaughterhouses in Turkey
Teaching stunning at cattle abattoir near Bursa, Turkey
Yesterday Eyes on Animals worked at a slaughterhouse near Bursa (Turkey) to show the difference between traditional slaughter (without pre-stunning) and more humane slaughter (with a stunner). They were slaughtering cattle from the Czech Republic. We showed them how the use of a stunner renders the cattle at least unconscious before they are hoisted by a chain around … [Read more...] about Teaching stunning at cattle abattoir near Bursa, Turkey