Germany: Largest Animal Welfare Scandal in History
The animal welfare scandal expands into a massive meat scandal through statements made by the accused former official veterinarians of the Osnabrück district.
Trial against two veterinarians
The legal investigation into Germany's largest animal welfare scandal is progressing.
Countless severely ill and injured animals from across the country had been illegally slaughtered in Bad Iburg. The veterinarians must answer for suspected animal cruelty.
The public prosecutor's office accuses the two veterinarians of failing, in their capacity as officially appointed veterinarians at the slaughterhouse, to take action against acts of animal cruelty that had been exposed through videos filmed by animal welfare activists in 2018. The footage shows partly sick and elderly animals that were no longer able to walk. They were pulled from livestock transport vehicles using cable winches, causing severe pain.
No live inspection, no approval
"This means that not a single gram of this meat should ever have been approved for human consumption. This concerns thousands of tonnes of produced meat — much of it from severely ill animals. This is a catastrophic failure by the authorities, which must have personnel consequences," demands SOKO Tierschutz spokesperson Mülln.
The trial also revealed other sensitive details: official stamps left openly accessible for anyone to use, and slaughterhouse workers threatening and ejecting state veterinarians.
State oversight system fails
Without an inspection of the live slaughter animals being delivered, the animals should never have been admitted for slaughter in the first place, said the head of the veterinary service of the Osnabrück district. Animals delivered dead may under no circumstances be slaughtered.
"This shows that the state's monitoring system for the meat industry has completely failed and that politicians must intervene urgently. The consumer holds the power. The tofu burger doesn't have these problems," said Friedrich Mülln. More on the animal welfare problem.
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