http://www.berwick-advertiser.co.

uk/news/local-headlines/rspca-report-dashes-animal-aid-claims-1-2567197

Thursday 18 October 2012

RSPCA report dashes Animal Aid claims

Berwick Advertiser, Sunday 14 October 2012 08:17 THE wellbeing of hens laying eggs for one of the norths largest suppliers has been assured by the RSPCA after allegations were made by an undercover animal rights group. Sunny Hill, based at Detchant Farm, near Belford, was targeted by Animal Aid, who took photographs of their hens as they were cooped up for the night. The group claimed that the animal care they found was shocking and not up to the standard of a farm that recently won an NFU Best Practice award. But two independent audits on the farm have refuted those claims completely. In the RSPCAs report, carried out on the day immediately after Animal Aids claims were made public, the investigator summed up: I can see no concerns with this unit. Its very well managed and the birds are performing well. On the day of the visit there were no nonconformities. Another independent audit, carried out by CMi on behalf of Lion, Sunny Hills distributor, also found nothing lacking in the animals care. SunnyHill was also praised by Jack Wight, a local farmer who undertook work experience at Detchant Farm. In a letter to The Advertiser, he wrote: I found the living conditions of the birds to be first class. The farms free range status means the birds are allowed access to outdoor conditions during the day, something that many hens never experience. Also the technology within the interior of the barn, with regards to temperature and air flow regulation, certainly maintains a comfortable environment for when the birds are indoors. The hens expertly formulated diet is not only highly palatable but is specifically designed to contain all of their nutritional requirements. Needless to say the birds welfare conditions are far from shocking as Animal Aid described them. Barney Kay, NFU regional director, who has been handling the case on behalf of Sunny Hill commented: In the last five years Animal Aid has become an increasingly vocal group and undertaken in increasing numbers these illegal entries onto farms. He went on top say that he was yet to discover an instance of actual welfare concern, despite dealing with groups such as this for the past five years. If these individuals are genuinely concerned about welfare, then why do they never make a report the instant theyve been onto a farm, to the experts such as RSPCA? They always wait to collate their evidence, which suggests they are more interested in self-publicity, rather than improving animal welfare. Organisations like these make continued unfounded allegations against perfectly well-run, law abiding businesses and it seems impossible to get fair play in taking action against them. Laws of trespass are extremely weak and as you cant tell the individuals involved its hard to prosecute. However allegations of this type can be devastating on these family-run businesses. Ive seen retailers drop contracts for fear of bad publicity from being associated with a farm thats had one of these exposes. Im not saying all farms are perfect, but we have a really comprehensive independent farm assurance

auditing system thats the best in the world and yet we let these guys put good people out of business.

COMMENTS
Name withheld Fengxian Shame the article fails to mention that Animal Aid do UNDERCOVER investigations, you know, where things aren't cleaned up for ANNOUNCED inspections by red lion and RSPCA. I'm more inclined to believe Animal Aid who don't announce any of their inspections until they have found the evidence they need of cruelty. Than the RSPCA who regularly are shown up in the undercover investigations by many groups to be incompetent and unethical. Most of their 'Freedom Food' farms have been shown to be far from what the 'Freedom Food' label suggests. RSPCA are an animal welfare charity, and a poor one at that who operate a kill-centre policy where healthy animals are put down if they do not find a home. Animal Aid is a welfare and rights charity who actually do care about the animals. So no, it is not RSPCA 1 - Animal Aid - 0. It is a RSPCA always announce visits, Animal Aid don't. If RSPCA actually used common sense and went undercover, they would not be seeing the tidy version of these farms, but the true reality when prying eyes are not about. Name withheld DontFollowTheSheep 7:12 PM on 14/10/2012 I have seen the pictures from Sunny Hill farm that were passed to Animal Aid. Whilst Sunny Hill's I don't find 'shocking' compared to many other pictures from 'winning' farms, they are certainly worrying. If these are supposedly the best conditions that hens are kept in and that farms win awards for then this industry is in a mess. The photos show chickens densely packed with little or no free space, no perches (except using their own food trays and machinery) and the floor is a metal mesh which most of the birds are forced to sit on. Take a look at the images yourself on the Animal Aid website and form your own opinion; would you want to eat chicken knowing that these conditions are the best they have and that other farms by implication will be worse? The shocking thing for me is to imagine the poorer conditions that chickens are suffering in the farms that don't win awards.