The number of Slaughterhouses in the UK has declined from 320 in 2003 to just 249 in 2018, a drop of over 20% in 15 years
The number of Slaughterhouses in the UK has declined from 320 in 2003 to just 249 in 2018, a drop of over 20% in 15 years
The Decline of UK Slaughterhouses: A Victory for Animal Welfare
There are several factors driving this decline, including labor shortages due to Brexit, rising operational costs, and burdensome bureaucracy. While the meat industry may lament these closures, animal advocates should view them as a victory for compassion and ethical consumption. Smaller, independent slaughterhouses are disappearing at a rapid rate, replaced by larger, industrialized facilities that prioritize efficiency over animal welfare.
The closure of these smaller abattoirs is significant because they often had more humane practices and closer connections to the local farming community. In contrast, the remaining mega-slaughterhouses treat animals as mere commodities, subjecting them to inhumane conditions and suffering on an industrial scale. By reducing the number of these facilities, we are taking an important step towards a more ethical and sustainable food system.
So without a concomitant reduction in meat production this sounds like a bad thing? More animals being slaughtered in worse conditions.
Slaughterhouses are just a symptom of pasturing.
Many people killing their dog or some people killing dogs all day is not much difference when killing is wrong - the usual criticism of alienation from the work and product doesn't quite translate when it's not your body to begin with.
Veganism argues that abolishing slaughterhouses is just one step, for it also wants to abolish animal exploitation.
Abolishing animal exploitation is coupled to abolishing slaughterhouses though, because artificially breeding animals for exploitation will eventually overpopulate the carrying capacity of a given area or company and breeders will need a way to sustain their business by killing 'excess' animals.
Is that due to a reduction in meat consumption or an increase in imported meat or efficiency increases in slaughterhouses?
Smaller, independent slaughterhouses are closing in favor of larger, more industrial ones. The bigger ones are more efficient at the cost of animal welfare.
Well shit, that was what I was worried about
The pessimist in me says they’re getting bigger.