The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
A South Holland man is staging a protest outside a Pinchbeck slaughterhouse every week.
Every Sunday from 10am to 1pm, David Brown is protesting outside the Woodhead Brothers’ abattoir currently owned by Morrison’s on Enterprise Way.
An animal rights campaign group highlighted what it said was ‘harrowing abuse’ of animals going through the plant.
David has decided to make a stand by standing outside every week for a few hours.
“This will always be a 100 per cent peaceful and non-disruptive protest, and I will not seek to get in front of the slaughterhouse lorries, as some protests have done in the past,” he said. “This isn’t aimed at the consumers or the workers, but the way we as a society treat animals.
“The slaughterhouse in question was in the news last year for undercover footage which showed violations of animal welfare laws, but this kind of thing happens in almost all slaughterhouses around the country.
“While I am personally for the abolition of all slaughter, I know that’s never going to happen, but most of us would agree that treating animals better is a good thing, right? That’s what I’m asking for.
“I don’t feel that animal welfare standards in this country are enforced well enough, and I would go as far to say that the standards themselves are lacking.
“The law needs to change to ensure that – if we must kill animals – they are treated with kindness, and are allowed to live long and natural lives without suffering, with plenty of space to roam.
“If that results in meat costing a little more, then okay. A life should be expensive. These are sentient beings. They feel pain. They get depressed. In many cases we’ve turned their lives into a living hell.
“Their lives shouldn’t be cheap.
“I’m not saying all farmers treat their animals this way. But the vast majority of the 70 billion land animals we slaughter each year are not treated anywhere near well enough, and they live a mere fraction of their natural lifespan. Nature didn’t intend it this way.”
David said that other campaigners had pledged to join him in the protest.
“All animal lovers are welcome,” he said.
Morrison’s declined to comment.
