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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Please boycott Gressingham Foods (warning: upsetting content)

22 replies

Dongdingdong · 16/12/2019 17:44

This story is so awful. How can people be so damn cruel?!

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7797511/Worker-Britains-biggest-duck-meat-farm-SNAPS-birds-necks-secret-film.html

OP posts:
BIWI · 16/12/2019 17:45

Sorry - refuse to click on a Daily Mail story! Can you give a brief summary of the story?

Dongdingdong · 16/12/2019 17:47

Here’s another link from a local paper:

www.edp24.co.uk/news/crime/gressingham-duck-farm-investigation-reveals-shocking-conditions-1-6428006

OP posts:
percheron67 · 16/12/2019 18:05

BIWI For goodness sake! Isn't animal welfare more important than (pointlessly) snubbing a newspaper article.

Corna · 16/12/2019 18:11

Vile, but basically this sort of cruelty is commonplace in the meat industry. Just another example. They only get caught because of secret filming.

BIWI · 16/12/2019 21:50

@percheron67 - the two aren't mutually exclusive! And I refuse to click on any link that might drive traffic/increase money going to that disgusting paper

myusernamewastakenbyme · 16/12/2019 21:55

I live about 5 mins from this farm...a lot of the local men work there....sadly the article doesnt surprise me.

isseywith4vampirecats · 16/12/2019 22:02

this is why I don't eat duck, turkey or chicken saw years ago conditions that turkeys were kept in , if people didn't buy the birds this wouldn't happen as there would be no demand , I don't eat veal because of veal crates, I don't eat rabbit as we have had pet rabbits in the past and would be like eating past pets, OP are you vegetarian or vegan

Streamside · 16/12/2019 23:41

Christmas fuels this sort of misery for turkeys and other fowl, it's unreasonable to expect otherwise.It's a bit like puppy farming,if we accept low standards because we want the designer puppy or the cheap turkey then we endorse and encourage this behaviour.

BoreOfWhabylon · 16/12/2019 23:42

YANBU

strawberrieshortcake · 16/12/2019 23:44

@percheron67 I’ve sniffed out the DM reader!

Andysbestadventure · 17/12/2019 01:12

Sorry am I missing something here? Snapping necks is generally how you kill Fowl Hmm well, without a cleaver anyway, but then the body gets all tough and chewy as it spasms when the head is cut off.

Did you not know how they are generally killed before you read the article?

I'm only 33 and I've killed a few chickens for dinner before now 🤷‍♀️

Andysbestadventure · 17/12/2019 01:15

And christ, if you don't like this, never find out how fish, cows and pigs are killed 🙄

SpoonBlender · 17/12/2019 01:16

Andys The article says the workers carried ducks by the neck and tossed them back into the flock, leaving them damaged. Not at slaughter time.

Read the article before commenting, eh?

BalsamicVin · 17/12/2019 01:22

"this is why I don't eat duck, turkey or chicken saw years ago conditions that turkeys were kept"

I can only assume you don't eat beef or pork or any kind of meat or fish then aswell?

BalsamicVin · 17/12/2019 01:24

I'll second what Andys saying and the point 😒

DeRigueurMortis · 17/12/2019 01:34

Andy - yes you're right.

Snapping the neck is the most painless way to kill fowl.

The pictures of the birds struggling to walk is awful, but my suspicion is the men were killing the ducks that had some sort of health issues (like those ones shown struggling to walk) rather than random killings.

Raising fowl it's inevitable you will get some who are not healthy (and would have died in the wild of starvation).

It's the reality of farming that you don't raise non viable livestock.

You have to remember that videos like this are edited to show a position that the organisation putting them out wants you to see. I also note this was filmed over a number of months and edited together rather than 5 mins of continuous footage.

I'm saying this as someone who always buys meat from certified welfare sources or better still local farmers I know personally.

As a family we are are also actively reducing our meat consumption.

However, I didn't see this as evidence of cruelty tbh - rather the realities of farming animals and you have to decide if you're ok with that or not.

In terms of the latter then perhaps the Vegan topics are for you (because if think hens who can no longer lay eggs or cows that don't produce milk go in to a happy retirement in a field then you're mistaken).

MrMeSeeks · 17/12/2019 02:02

Sorry am I missing something here? Snapping necks is generally how you kill Fowl hmm well, without a cleaver anyway, but then the body gets all tough and chewy as it spasms when the head is cut off.

I don’t remember grabbing the birds by the necks and throwing them onto a hard ground being in any slaughter houses guide to killing birds, may e i missed that Hmm

ItsNearlyMorning · 17/12/2019 02:09

This makes me sick.
I have many ex farm ducks and chickens as pets.
The state of the poor babies when they came to me was just horrific but they are amazing now and so lovely and friendly.
I literally love them like kids and they know it.
Ducks are very bright and engaging birds.
They should be outside , digging for worms and snails and not kept like that .
Thankfully some of these factory birds will get nice homes because there is a network of wonderful people who rescue hundreds at a time and find homes for them.
Don't buy the products of factory farming.
If you eat meat please buy organic , free range meat if you must eat it.
Humans are truly evil sometimes.
I despair how anyone can feel that factory farming is ok .

ItsNearlyMorning · 17/12/2019 02:22

Also they don't usually kill ducks by wringing their necks.
They usually put them in a cone ( hanging upside down ) with their head and neck out and use a hatchet and leave them to bleed out for a few minutes.
Ducks are very different to chickens to slaughter.
Longer necks etc

LeGrandBleu · 17/12/2019 02:28

Sorry, but there is no way to kill an animal without suffering. There is pain and terror for all the species you eat. When you grab a tray of a nicely cut piece of meat at Tesco you don't make the connection that it was an animal that heard the screams of the others before him, an animal that was kicked by the workers when it started refusing to move, that was bashed and then kill in the most frightening moments of its life.
So ducks, cow, lamb and so on. They all suffer, some more than others, but there is no such thing as a kind or human kill.

The animal you have in your plate was scared and felt pain. Nobody can refute that.

ItsNearlyMorning · 17/12/2019 03:07

@LeGrandBleu you're right 100%.
I've been a vegetarian, (although I don't eat dairy ) since I was 7 years old.
I do sometimes eat things I've baked with my own chickens eggs. It's not a common thing. Birthday cakes for the kids etc
Mostly the eggs get given away or to a local soup kitchen.
Every time I see a post on Facebook for a chicken or duck rescue operation I end up with 10 or so half bald, scabby hens.
I can't say no!
My birds are free range ( protected by two big male geese) and they have a wonderful life.
They have toys, enrichment areas , they can dig and the ducks have a pond.
If they get sick and can't be treated , the vet comes to my house and euthanises them humanely like you would a cat or dog.
Unfortunately when you rescue ex factory birds you will lose a few before they get a chance of happiness and freedom.

percheron67 · 17/12/2019 12:18

Shortcake. Aha! Caught me! I was only trying to point out that if the Daily M has done a good thing in reporting animal cruelty it must be a good thing? I haven't read the article or the link - couldn't bear to - but on my next Waitrose/Sainsbury visit I shall be having a word with the Managers to ask that they report to Head Office. Not sure that it will have any effect but if enough of us do it, they may take heed.

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