RSPCA Assured Farms: Animal Rising investigation exposes welfare failures

• Today footage and a report from a huge investigation into the state of RSPCA Assured farms has been released, with 45 UK farms featured. The RSPCA Assured scheme is one of the largest, so-called, animal welfare programs in the UK.
• RSPCA President, Chris Packham, was sent the footage and has today called the footage “indefensible.” He also called for the suspension of the scheme. Peter Egan, former RSPCA Vice-President condemned the footage too.
• The scheme has been described as “effectively fraud” by a Crown Court Judge.
• Animal Rising is calling on the RSPCA to drop the assurance scheme entirely, saying “This is definitive proof that farming animals can never be done nicely.”

Today, amidst an utter scandal for the RSPCA, Animal Rising has released footage from over 40 UK farms that the charity’s animal welfare scheme assures as, supposedly, ‘high welfare’.

The footage shows scenes including baby chickens dying in factory farms and pigs left dead for days in filthy sheds.

Rose Patterson, Animal Rising Co-Director said: “This investigation has blown the lid off the RSPCA’s dirty secret; it is happy to rubber stamp cruelty on factory farms and industrial animal abuse.

“I’ve personally spent months investigating and cataloguing a litany of suffering across farms that the public is told to trust. Some of the scenes we’ve seen in the sheds endorsed by the RSPCA are beyond barbaric.

“The world’s oldest and most respected animal charity has clearly lost its way. The work they do for cats, dogs, and other animals is evidently not making its way to others like chickens and pigs. As the charity nears its 200th birthday it has a choice to make; will it step up, protect animals, and drop the Assured Scheme?”

Chris Packham, President of the RSPCA, has called on the charity to suspend the scheme and take a bolder stance to protect animals.

This exposé comes after several other investigations into RSPCA Assured farms by groups such as Animal Justice Project and VIVA!

Peter Egan, former RSPCA Vice-President said: ““The findings on RSPCA Assured farms across the UK are deeply troubling and call the entire scheme into question. The RSPCA has been failing animals across the UK.

“In the past, I worked extensively with the charity because I believed – and still do believe – that the RSPCA must lead the way in protecting animals. I now see that cannot happen without dropping the RSPCA Assured scheme entirely”

There is more to come on this story, with Animal Rising promising a sustained campaign of action until the RSPCA drops its assured scheme.

Animal Rising is a social movement to create a new relationship with all beings and give us a chance for a safe ecological future.

The group primarily calls for the transition to a secure and sustainable plant-based food system, alongside a mass rewilding programme.

On Saturday (8/6/24), local supporters of Animal Rising put up posters across the city centre of Edinburgh, exposing the vast differences between the public advertising and hidden reality of RSPCA Assured farms.

Areas the posters could be seen were Princes Street, Royal Mile and Lothian Road.

Other cities and towns in the UK targeted include Birmingham, Liverpool, London, Sheffield, Southampton, Newcastle and York.

In a coordinated mass action, individuals from the climate and animal group Animal Rising covered many UK towns and cities, including Edinburgh on 8/6/24, with posters exposing the vast differences between RSPCA Assured marketing and RSPCA Assured farms for pigs, chickens, salmon and cows.

This action follows extensive investigations by Animal Rising that have been compiled into a comprehensive and expert-backed report which exposes the RSPCA Assured scheme for endorsing factory farming and extensive animal suffering.

Investigations on 45 farms revealed animal suffering on every single farm and resulted in the scheme being described as ‘effectively fraud’ by legal expert Ayesha Smart. Animal Rising is calling for the RSPCA to drop the scheme and throw their support behind a transition to a plant-based food system and helping farmers to produce food sustainably.

This is their 200th anniversary year, and making this change will help remove avoidable animal suffering from our food system, create space for rewilding and nature in the UK to thrive, and allow them to extend care and compassion ‘for every kind’ in line with their recent rebrand.

Pamela Waite, 26, a local Clerical Assistant said: “I am absolutely disgusted that the RSPCA, an animal welfare charity, is making money from the exploitation and suffering of animals.

“They pretend that something humane happens in a slaughter house by labeling animal products as RSPCA assured. But, as evident from Animal Risings investigations, RSPCA Assured farms do not protect animals from harm.

“RSPCA please drop your RSPCA Assured scheme!”

In 2018, comprehensive research from the University of Oxford showed that 76% of the land currently used for food production would be freed-up by a global transition to plant-based production [3]. This land could be rewilded and begin carbon drawdown, mitigating the worst impacts of climate breakdown. A 2019 Harvard University report on UK farmland and food production from Helen Harwatt and Matthew N. Hayek also concluded that the UK would be carbon-negative if it completely transitioned to a plant-based food system [4].

Animal Rising is a social movement to create a new relationship with all beings and give us a chance for a safe ecological future. The group primarily calls for the transition to a secure and sustainable plant-based food system, alongside a mass rewilding programme.

RSPCA celebrates it’s 200th anniversary this weekend with a series of ‘One Fun Day’ events.

PICTURES: press@animalrising.org