L214 strikes again. The animal rights association, which has revealed numerous scandals in recent years, has just filed a complaint with the Laval prosecutor’s office on Wednesday against the municipal slaughterhouse of Craon (Mayenne), denouncing animals still alive at the time of their cutting. Complaint which will be the subject of a judicial investigation entrusted to the gendarmerie, Laval public prosecutor Anne-Lyse Jarthon told AFP this Thursday.
More precisely, L214 attacks the slaughterhouse for cruelty, serious abuse and mistreatment. “The images shot at the end of last year show animals still conscious after stunning: calves, cows, oxen, sheep raise their heads and struggle before and after slitting their throats,” describes L214 in a press release, which specifies that the meat of certain cattle slaughtered in the establishment “is sold under the Maine-Anjou controlled designation of origin”.
True to form, the association did not hesitate to describe, in sordid detail, the underbelly of the slaughterhouse. “Cows react to stabs and guillotine pliers when their front legs, horns or heads are cut off. However, at this stage of the slaughter chain, the animals should be dead,” according to L214. “These are scenes worthy of a horror film,” continues the association.
As slaughterhouses are supposed to be heavily controlled by state services, L214 did not hesitate to point out the failings of the competent authorities. “The structural problems of this establishment and the lack of intervention by veterinary services lead to very serious offenses which are repeated, and terrible consequences for the animals,” denounced the association, while recalling the involvement of the municipality de Craon, “owner of this slaughterhouse which slaughters around 4,500 animals from conventional or organic farming each year”.
Directly targeted, the prefecture of Mayenne was quick to react. In a press release, it ensures that “the four slaughterhouses of animals for slaughter in Mayenne, including the Craon site, are subject to permanent inspection by the State veterinary services”. The prefecture adds that “the State services sent a formal notice on April 21, 2023 to the operator of this slaughterhouse on the conditions of immobilization of the animals before their stunning”, the formal notice lifted “on July 12, with regard to the corrective actions already undertaken.
According to the prefecture, at the end of December 2023, “new restraint equipment more suitable for all sizes of cattle was put into service”. Consequently, the prefecture maintains that the installations filmed by L214 “are therefore not those currently in service within the Craon slaughterhouse”. It will therefore be up to the courts to decide.
