“We Need You”

A Message From British Actor Peter Egan

Dear supporter,

It’s Peter Egan here. I’m a British film and television actor and animal activist. I was at Westminster on Monday representing you and all the animals who suffer at the hands of the meat industry.

I want to update you on what happened.

Animal Equality UK has just released a new investigation and report alongside The Animal Law Foundation which was featured in the Guardian.

The investigation confirmed what many of us have suspected for years now: that Britain’s so-called ‘world-leading animal welfare standards’ exist only on paper and bear no resemblance to what’s really happening to animals on UK farms.

For decades, I’ve heard politicians boast about Britain’s animal protection laws. And yet at the same time, I’ve seen the images and watched the videos that organisations like Animal Equality have published showing the reality facing millions of innocent animals.

Here’s what was documented:

• Piglets having their tails cut off routinely on farms without pain relief. 
• Cows on dairy farms who can barely walk because they’re forced to walk day in, day out on concrete floors, carrying unnaturally high volumes of milk in their udders.
• Chickens who can’t stand up because their bones have buckled under their enormous weight. They’re unable to reach water and they die of thirst.
• Salmon who are slaughtered while still conscious.

The words spoken by politicians have never matched up to the evidence.

That’s why earlier this week, I accompanied Abigail and her team to an event held at Westminster to show MPs and Government ministers that we intend to take action.

We presented over 70,000 signatures gathered on our petition so far.

If you’ve seen any of Animal Equality’s investigation videos, you will understand why this work is so important.

In 2018, I watched a video captured by an Animal Equality investigator inside a pig farm called Fir Tree Farm. The investigator had put a hidden camera inside the farm building and it captured everything.

The video showed a worker jabbing the pigs repeatedly with a pitchfork and kicking them in the face and head. There was one pig that he picked on in particular. She was so helpless.

I remember watching as he jumped over the wall into her enclosure and followed her around, kicking her in her face and belly. She tried to escape but there was nowhere to go.

She could only turn around and cower against one of the walls, hoping he’d leave her alone. But he didn’t. He came back, standing over her, staring into her face and kicking her again and again.

She was so helpless and no one was there to stop him. 

The workers also left a pig who was hurt without veterinary care for two days before eventually shooting her. Perhaps worst of all, the workers were laughing while they were doing it.

I was outraged and even just thinking about it now makes me angry.

Fortunately, thanks to the work of Animal Equality and the investigator, the men were caught and prosecuted. But this is the exception rather than the rule.

Animal Equality cannot police the entire meat industry. They can’t send an investigator to every farm.

That means that, right now, there are animals out there being abused by workers. They’re alone and in pain, and they can’t understand why someone keeps hurting them.

That’s why this new campaign is so important. Only the Government has the resources to police the meat industry. To help animals on farms across the country, we must hold the Government to its duty of protecting animals.

Now, while we focus on the campaign ahead, I would like to draw your attention to something I thought about while watching the video from Fir Tree Farm that day.

Watching that video gave me another valuable insight into the lives of the brave activists who venture into factory farms and slaughterhouses to uncover all manner of animal abuses.

I’m talking about the investigators who see animals suffering and must find it so hard. And yet they make the difficult decision to go back again day after day to do more because they feel they have a duty to help animals.

The images Animal Equality’s investigators have captured inside factory farms across the UK are the reason we are able to fight for change. Without the evidence they’ve gathered, we would not have such a strong case to take to the Government.

Investigators are the true heroes and we must do everything we can to support them and their vital work.

Just as they leave the farm one day and return the next, we must come back once more, even more determined, to fight for the animals who are abused and neglected inside factory farms across the country.

That is how long-term change is achieved.

So with that said, I ask you to please support them, their bravery and the incredible change for animals they inspire by donating to Animal Equality today.

All donations to Animal Equality are currently being matched by another generous donor. This means your support will go twice as far.

For example, if you make a £30 donation, the other donor will also make the same £30 donation. This means £60 will go to help animals. That’s £30 extra going to help animals at no extra cost to you.

And if you set up a monthly donation, the other donor will match your monthly donations for an entire year.

For example, if you set up a monthly donation of £10 per month, the other donor will also make the same £10 donation every month with you for the next twelve months. That’s an extra £120 donated to help animals at no extra cost to you.

It’s an amazing opportunity, so please support the investigators. No doubt they are out there at this very moment, collecting the evidence that will inspire tomorrow’s change. They deserve our support.

Sincerely,