Cruelty - Waitrose free range ducks

I could only watch the first 10 secnds of that! That is completely disgusting. It makes you wonder how people can be so cruel.
 
Grrrrr! I can't watch much because it wont buffer properly but it looks like they are using ducks as sticks to move the other ducks with. :(
 
Im afraid I could not watch the footage as it upsets me too much. Glad Waitrose have suspended dealings. These horrid people make me sick.
 
Please dont blame the farmers and most the abatoirs, like religious killing that is legal need the govt to ban it, i have taken lambs to abatoirs and never seen any cruelty, and there are ministry vets present at every abatoir.
 
I'm sorry to tell you that the practices viewed within the duck catching vid, are common practice, within all aspects of the poultry industry.

When you buy your cheap poultry from your local supermarket, regardless of the bird species, then you demand ever cheaper food. There's only one way that cheap food can be produced, and that's by cutting corners.

Are you aware, that all commercially produced poultry, from the day that they hatch, are fed a permanent diet of antibiotics? Is this why we, as humans, have complaints, which are ever more resistant to antibiotics?

Poultry are kept in buildings, containing many thousands of their kind, and the deformed and dying, are left to their own devices, and still the Foods Standards Agency turn a blind eye to the way that our commercial poultry are produced.

Who's responsible for this? You are. Your constant demand for cheaper meat, and your support of the supermarkets fosters such practices, despite what they will claim.

So Waitrose have distanced themselves from the suppliers filmed, have they? If they took the same action, against all those suppliers who could be filmed, carrying out atrocities, they'd end up with no suppliers at all!!

Carrying a duck, by its neck, is actually acceptable. It sounds awful, but no harm comes to the bird. The really disgraceful displays occur before the ducks are "caught", and before slaughter.

All of the major supermarkets are very well aware of the treatment meted out to the poultry which they buy, and so should you be.

Alec.
 
Yes, I believe Alec has painted a valid picture. :(

It really is time we all knew what providing meat on the scale and price we demand means for the animals and us humans.
 
Erm, sorry, the comments about Waitrose are hugely unjustified.

My OH works for them. They, more than ANY other supermarket, put a HUGE effort into sourcing their produce from fair, kind and safe suppliers. When they became aware of this practice, they removed their business from their suppliers and FOUND SOMEONE ELSE. People like Tescos etc don't give a holy cow, and would continue.

This practice does in some cases reflect in their increased pricing. Because they CARE about their produce, and about their customers and their needs. My OH comes home every other day telling me about how individual customers complaints have been passed to Head Office, and they have changed procedure due to the comments!

The people you need to be cross at, if any, are the individuals committing these acts. I havent seen the video, so I can't comment on whether it is cruelty or not, but it is 100% commendable of Waitrose that they have now removed their business from them, when many others have not and will not.
 
I have to agree with flamehead regarding Waitrose. The company did in this case act very quickly.

Waitrose
"We are appalled by the footage taken at Hall Farm and as soon as we saw it we suspended the supplier and sent in a vet to ensure the welfare of the ducks remaining on the farm.

...Following an immediate and detailed investigation, we have now ended our relationship with the supplier and they no longer supply Waitrose. The behaviour seen on the film is totally unacceptable and completely goes against the high welfare standards Waitrose expects of its farmers.

We are also reviewing our processes to make sure we do everything we can to ensure nothing like this can ever happen again."

I do however worry about the welfare of the ducks that will be left in the hands of these people.
 
I have long been wary of buying even free range meat at supermarkets - I wouldn't touch the cheaper stuff for the reasons Alec outlines. Until all animals are guaranteed a humane life and death, meat will remain largely off my menu. This just sickens me.
 
Doesn't 'free range duck' imply that they are outside, with access to water and able to live a natural life? Not stuck inside a barn in the dark.

I totally agree with Alec! Didn't Hugh Fearnley-Whatsit do a programme about the cruelty involved in intensive poultry rearing? The trouble is that people want everything as cheap as possible and don't give any thought to the conditions the animal/bird has had to endure in its short life.

A frightening amount of poultry is imported from abroad, including China.
 
Binkle&Flip said:
I have to agree with flamehead regarding Waitrose. The company did in this case act very quickly.

Waitrose
"We are appalled by the footage taken at Hall Farm and as soon as we saw it we suspended the supplier and sent in a vet to ensure the welfare of the ducks remaining on the farm.

...Following an immediate and detailed investigation, we have now ended our relationship with the supplier and they no longer supply Waitrose. The behaviour seen on the film is totally unacceptable and completely goes against the high welfare standards Waitrose expects of its farmers.

We are also reviewing our processes to make sure we do everything we can to ensure nothing like this can ever happen again."........
Click to expand...

Are you really serious, B_F? The Company acted quickly? Well yes, I suppose that they did, but only when the events became available to the public.

"We are appalled by the footage taken at Hall Farm....etc." Hang on a minute, don't they advise us that they "monitor" all their suppliers? They're talking nonsense, and they know it.

"Following an immediate investigation".... So they've dumped Hall Farm, and will now seek out a new supplier. "The behaviour" demonstrated, is every day practice, from all commercial producers, and they are as aware of that, as you should be!

"We are also reviewing our processes...." Certainly they are, and they've been doing it for years, with little or no progress. Progress is a matter of profit. Understand that, and you'll start to understand the appalling problem, of poultry welfare.

Alec.

as a footnote, Waitrose, strange though it may sound are probably no better, or worse than any other supermarket. That doesn't alter the fact that it is a national disgrace. :)
 
Well you are`nt going to get an intelligent individual who respects animal life doing duck catching for 5.80 (?) an hour are you?Next door farm used to do broiler chooks by the thousands,and killed and prepped as well,absolutely devoid of any thought processes re kindness amongst that lot !
If killing any animal/bird then the only realistic solution is to go veggie..you want cheap food that breathed once,there is`nt a fairy tale death for anything you eat..get used to it.
 
Alec I have asked my OH about this last night.

They do, regularly, monitor and visit their suppliers. However in this case, the suppliers were acting 100% professionally when they were being visited. This behaviour was only happening when they thought that they were on their own. However, when waitrose found out about their supplier, they immediately removed their business for them. I dont understand what else you wanted them to do? Or is it waitrose's fault that we eat meat? Because they're seen as posh? Because I can't see what else they could possibly have done more than their actions currently.

And as an aside, they are the only supermarket who gives £1000, per branch, to a charity chosen by the customers once a month (it may even be weekly actually). They are the only supermarket that stock all free range lines. They buy from local suppliers where possible.

Waitrose couldn't have acted more appropriately in this instance.
 
And as for your misguided comment on progress equalling profit, waitrose is a Partnership. Therefore, by employee choice, they receive a bonus and the rest of the profit is ploughed straight back into the business to improve branches, open new ones, improve infrastructure so it's as env friendly as possible and choose their suppliers. They continually strive for progress which is why they're gaining market share despite the economy being as it is. They will also sacrifice profit for the benefit of their customers. The double refund and replacement rule? My OH spent 3 hours at work the other day with a woman who drove into a wall. Not their wall, a council wall outside. He brought her in, got her a coffee and a bun. Rang the council for her, rang her insurers for her. He then sent one of his partners down the road to get her daughter to come and collect her. I can assure you my OHs time is very expensive to the business but they value their customers so that is the service they provide.

I have more examples but am getting tired but PM me if you do want to hear others.
 
I was looking into sourcing locally produced meat, we have a lovely farm shop very close. Once I have asked to see how their animals are kept I think I'll switch from supermarket meat once and for all.
Treating animals like that, however commonplace, is wrong. They deserve some respect when alive and not to be made to feel fear and pain.

Shame on everyone involved.
 
there will always br creulty im every species even humans on humans doesnt make it right but vsry sad fact some humans are just evil.
 
Someone I work with said the other day - not overly seriously:

Is it better we give animals a great life, make them happy and fulfilled or give them a crap one and make them beg for death...

It's just that attitude to the food we eat that perpetuates this issue, as Alec says, we create this problem ourselves!
 
My god. People laugh at my morals when it comes to meat but that just proves me right. It makes me absolutley sick to the stomach. I point blank refuse to eat any meat which I dont know the history of. If I can't afford the price of it, I wont eat it. End of.
I think any kind of cage/barn reared poultry should be banned. If that means meat gets too expensive for some, then tough in my opinion. Eat something else. Very black and white but I just cant justify the need in my head.
 
Truly shocking.

I don't buy meat from the supermarkets now because of welfare issues, you just don't know where its come from, how its been treated or whats in it.

I eat mainly veggie now and if I do buy meat its from a local source where I know how its reared.

Unfortunately I can't see this sort of abuse ever being eradicated because there are so many people who need to eat cheaply and don't consider animal welfare.
 
That won't please Jamie Oliver. He is patron on the British Hen Welfare Trust and he supports Sainsburys with their adverts.
 
To be honest I don't find it surprising or shocking at all. I think it is appalling but it doesn't shock me the way birds and indeed other animals intensely bred and reared are treated. I think what shocks and appalls me more though is that the general public don't seem to be aware at all of what goes on and where their meat comes from and i don't think a lot of them care as they have no concept of animal welfare.

I think ALL supermarkets should properly monitor their suppliers ALL their suppliers and prices should reflect the quality and care that has been put in. The problem is people see meat as being something they can have when they want and they want it as cheaply as they can get it. In my opinion that is wrong. Meat used to be a luxury food item, it was expensive. I think it should still be expensive and then the demand wouldn't be so much that farmers feel forced into the position of these intensive methods just to make ends meet. there is no excuse for cruelty but do people see how birds and other animals are killed in general anyway? I don't imagine it's all sweetness and light and the cows, pigs, sheep and birds go skipping in to be stunned, have their throats slit or have a captive bolt shoved into their brain!

I am vegetarian although not for these issues - i have been veggie since I was very young, way before I knew about these things (i just did not like meat). Now if i did eat meat I think I would have to think very hard about where it came from.

Thankfully know my veg and quorn hasn't been so mistreated!!!! ;-)
 
If you must consume dead animals and birds then just accept that all of it is killed ,and there never is a pretty way to kill so that it is eatable.No matter how the creature lived it`s life it dies in an unpretty way to unneccessarily fill your stomach, saying it lived well just salves your conscience. Be it Waitrose or Tesco`s they all sell dead animals,to get precious about duck treatment that happens daily on almost any duck farm is ridiculous.
My dogs are carnivores ....I do not need to be thanks.
 
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