Matthew Chalmers
This parliamentary debate reveals the growing political awareness of our farmed animal welfare crisis.
Last week Green Party co-leader and MP Adrian Ramsay brought the plight of fast-growing chickens and farmed fish to parliament.
We call them Frankenchickens - because their rate of growth is so utterly abnormal and grotesque that they can often barely move, forced to sit in their own waste for hours on end. For years, we’ve been fighting to free them from this suffering - working to ban fast-growing chicken breeds who have suffering coded into their very DNA.
And politicians are taking notice. For the first time, Frankenchickens have been mentioned in Parliament, as MPs heard of the suffering they face in their short lives as part of a debate on animal welfare led by Green MP Adrian Ramsay.
And that’s not all - other animals raised for food were highlighted in the debate too, including salmon, whose ‘deeply unpalatable origins’ - to quote Ramsay - see these animals live painful, distressing lives in cramped cages, followed by deaths that lack basic legal protections.
We’re thrilled to see these important stories told in Parliament. It’s testament to all the work you, and other compassionate people like you, have done to bring animal welfare matters to the attention of decision-makers. These decision-makers hold such power over the fate of animals - so their awareness of the crisis unfolding in the heart of animal agriculture is vital.
We hope this is just the beginning.
As we continue to find a legal path to banning Frankenchickens, to lobby the Government over banning cages for laying hens and to get more robust protections for farmed fish at slaughter, change may yet be on the horizon.
To be a part of that change, then sign up to our email list below. To find out if your supermarket is selling Frankenchickens, click here.
