On the heels of a shocking hidden-camera investigation exposing rampant animal cruelty within
Canada’s livestock transport industry, Mercy For Animals attempted to
deliver the signatures of over 80,000 compassionate people to federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz,
demanding that Canada’s transportation regulations be updated to prevent
egregious animal suffering.
Sadly, Minister Ritz
refused to accept the petitions in person, security denying MFA representatives
entry to the Confederation Building in Ottawa this morning. MFA has now mailed
the petitions directly to Minister Ritz. MFA Canada’s executive director,
Krista Osborne, addressed throngs of media outlets outside the government
building, urging the public to continue calling on the federal government to
update Canada’s archaic livestock transport regulations.
The graphic
undercover video that sparked this public outrage and media firestorm was shot
at Western Hog Exchange in Red Deer, Alberta, and shows sick and injured
animals who had just been trucked hundreds of kilometres in extreme weather
being violently beaten in full view of government inspectors. The footage also
shows “downer animals unable to walk being shocked with electric prods and left
to suffer without proper veterinary care.
Canada’s livestock transport regulations are the worst in
the Western world, and lag far behind both the European Union and the United
States. Farmed animals are often trucked thousands of kilometres for up to 52
hours without any food, water, or rest, resulting in the deaths of millions of
animals each year. They die in excruciating pain brought on by dehydration,
starvation, and suffocation. Many animals sustain such severe and crippling
injuries from extreme overcrowding that they are declared unfit for human
consumption and killed upon reaching their destinations. Last year in Canada,
more than 8 million farmed animals arrived at slaughterhouses dead or so sick
or injured that they were killed upon arrival.
Watch the
hidden-camera video footage here:
“Canada’s outdated livestock transport regulations are
downright shameful. We lag behind every other Western nation, allowing animals
to suffer unimaginably as they are trucked through all weather extremes, for
days, without food or water, says Krista Osborne. “Agriculture Minister Gerry
Ritz has not only the power, but also the responsibility, to end the needless
suffering of animals within the livestock transportation industry.
Take Action
Please sign the petition here
calling on Gerry Ritz to swiftly update Canada’s livestock transportation
regulations to prevent unconscionable animal cruelty.