It was organised with the Humane League UK, Open Cages, Animal Equality UK and the RSPCA.
The animal-welfare organisations promoted the petition online, and staff and volunteers rang supermarket customer services teams to ask about their chicken welfare, allegedly receiving a range of false responses.
Some callers even reported that supermarket staff hung up on them.
Out of 12 calls to the Co-op, in eight cases, employees claimed all their chicken was free-range or cruelty-free, or met the Better Chicken Commitment.
The Co-op’s website says all its chicken is British and meets Red Tractor standards, but does not claim it is free-range.
P&G Sleigh has been suspended by Pilgrim’s UK, QMS and retailers including Tesco and Lidl
Pork giant Pilgrim’s UK has suspended a farm in its supply chain after it was implicated in a series of alleged animal welfare rule breaches.
Scottish pork producer P&G Sleigh was accused of the breaches in a report published by the Times today (based on undercover filming by campaign group Animal Equality UK), which appeared to show footage of staff inflicting a series of violent acts on pigs.
The footage included a worker hammering pigs to death and sows with severe injuries, including organs protruding from their bodies, The Times reported. Staff at the indoor unit also failed to treat pigs promptly after being informed they were suffering serious wounds, Animal Equality claimed.
Dear ministers,
I was dismayed to learn that up to half a million foxes are killed nationwide every year, even though there is no understandable reason for the massive, widespread hunting of predators from a wildlife-biological point of view.
On the contrary, the facts speak for a ban on fox hunting.
I note with concern that hunters deliberately attach a bad image to foxes in order to be able to pursue their bloody hobby.
Foxes, however, are an important link in the cycle of nature. They also ensure the survival of their prey species by preying on weak and sick animals and thus immediately eliminating foci of disease.