Email received from Wiltshire farmer, John Tuck, on the subject of abuse in UK abattoirs.

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Hello Mary,

This statement from the Meat Trade Daily News points the way to what I believe is the only way our regulations can be met.

"However in Great Britain pigs, lambs and calves are still stunned in a lose pen, where the slaughterman has to catch them with the electric tongues. In Australia Restrainers became law in 1990 where the animal walks up a race to a stunning box in the same manner as cattle."

Chasing frightened animals round a pen makes the slaughtermans job nigh on impossible, and obviously contravenes the regulation that says the animals should be presented for stunning in a way that makes the stunning certain. I don't like what I see, but can any of us say that in those circumstances we could do a better job. If the Australians have methods that make the job easier and more certain, those methods should be made mandatory forthwith.

Kind regards

John

John Tuck
Highgate Farm