French justice has condemned the state for allowing animal cruelty to continue at a slaughterhouse in the south-west of the country, three years after animal rights group L214 broadcast a video showing slaughtered lambs in poor condition.
In a May 4 decision welcomed by the anti-speciesist association on Wednesday, the Montpellier administrative court ordered the state to pay L214 4,500 euros, including 3,000 euros for its “moral damage linked to state culpability”. in the inadequacy of its controls of animal welfare regulations by the Arsac slaughterhouse”.
In particular, in the video, a montage of short sequences, we see the slaughter of lambs while they are wrapped up and appear to be poorly immobilized.
“Bad practices and hellish speeds result in lambs being conscious being bled dry and hung up,” L214 denounced at the time.
However, according to the administrative court seized by L214 in 2020, these breaches of national and European legislation were identified in 2016 and 2019 and a formal compliance notice was sent to the company running the slaughterhouse.
However, these findings “were not the subject of an appropriate administrative follow-up or, if necessary, a report to the public prosecutor’s office for the most serious cases,” the administrative court notes.
State controls were “not sufficient to prevent the risk of animal abuse, although particular vigilance and monitoring were required due to the serious violations identified in 2016,” the judge said.
He also points out that the deficiencies identified by L214 in 2020 are proven and confirmed by the National Veterinary and Phytosanitary Inspection Brigade.
“Our surveys show that the services (state veterinarians) often fail completely. Here in Rodez there have been serious violations since 2016. We are pleased that the administrative court is finally condemning the state,” Brigitte Gothière, co-founder of L214, is quoted as saying in a press release.
“We ask the Ministry of Agriculture to take responsibility for this,” she added.
In June 2020, the responsible ministry had suspended the approval of the operating company of the slaughterhouse on the grounds of “unacceptable practices”.
Contacted by AFP, he had not responded to the court’s decision by the end of the morning.