Animal Equality investigated Summit Calf Ranch in Nebraska, a facility housing 11,000 calves and owned by Tuls Dairy a supplier of Bel Brands, producer of Babybel and The Laughing Cow Cheese. The footage our investigator recorded reveals prolonged suffering of dozens of calves freezing to death outdoors. Repeated exposure to extreme temperatures resulted in frozen limbs, and the separation of the hoof from the leg of several calves. Some even died in agony as they were thrown into a pile of dead and dying animals. We’re pushing authorities to consider criminal charges against those involved.

Our investigators visited Red Tractor-certified farms in the United Kingdom multiple times between February and April 2019 and found shocking cruelty within the massive double-decker chicken sheds, which held over 30,000 birds on each floor. They saw many chickens unable to stand, which is unfortunately common in the chicken industry, and carcasses left to rot for days amongst the living birds. These farms supply chicken to major retailers in the UK, including high-end supermarkets. The conditions documented on these farms are far from what most consumers would consider to be “high-welfare.”

Animal Equality investigators documented hatcheries, factory farms and slaughterhouses that show standard practices that are also present in the United States. In the hatcheries, the birds who do not meet the standards required by the industry are discarded alive along with the eggshells. They will die in the trash containers, crushed soon after seeing the world for the first time.

Investigators gathered footage from within Red Tractor-Certified British chicken farms supplying major retailers after a whistleblower reported the cruel treatment of animals. Our investigation - which shows how labels and certificates don’t prevent animals from suffering - revealed dozens of birds collapsed under the weight of their unnaturally large bodies and unable to stand, dead birds left to rot among the living, leading to cannibalism on at least one farm, workers breaking birds’ necks and leaving them to convulse amidst the flock, dying birds thrown onto a pile and left to suffer for hours, and workers deliberately kicking and stepping on birds repeatedly.

Animal Equality released footage showing extreme suffering and cannibalism on an award-winning farm in the United Kingdom, Grove Smith Turkeys Ltd, which supplies turkey high-end retailers, local butcher shops and pubs. Filmed by our investigators in late 2018 at Hubbard’s Farm in Essex – Grove Smith Turkeys’ main site – the shocking footage shows birds unable to walk being eaten alive by flockmates, birds with severely infected wounds left untreated, and dozens of birds left to rot among the living, some for so long they had decomposed into skeletons.

Animal Equality released footage shot inside a cow slaughterhouse in Lombardy, Italy. The investigators documented that slaughter was often not performed in compliance with regulations, with video footage showing workers mistreating cows by pushing, pulling, violently hitting, inadequately stunning, and slaughtering them while still conscious and able to feel pain. Our investigation led to a petition asking for legal reform of the meat industry in Italy.

---

Animal Equality’s investigation team re-visited Mexican egg production facilities in Jalisco, Mexico in August, 2017 and March and August, 2018. The footage was presented by actor, comedian and television show host Eugenio Derbez, who helped raise awareness about the miserable lives of caged hens raised for eggs.

Animal Equality investigators visited a foie gras farm to witness the production of the cruel ‘delicacy’ first hand. To our amazement, many farms in France offer public tours, open to families. We were welcomed onto one and filmed ducks and geese suffering severely in barren, wire cages and terrified birds struggling while being ruthlessly force fed with metal tubes. If the cruelty we filmed on this farm is the most humane way that foie gras can be produced, then it clearly has no place in a compassionate society. Over 100,000 people have asked for a ban in the United Kingdom.

A year after our first investigation of an Italian egg farm, we sent our investigators back to document what changes had been made. Although we had reported our initial findings to the authorities, the new footage we obtained showed that conditions on the farm had worsened.

Far from the idyllic image of “organic” dairy farming, we exposed workers standing on tiny calves, dragging them by the back legs, and slapping them in the face in a UK farm. Calves were also denied access to water for over 24 hours on some of the hottest days of the year.

In one of the most daring undercover investigations to date, we exposed the cruelty and destruction caused by fishing when we documented trawling in the Mediterranean Sea in Italy, showing millions of fish suffering will being caught in massive nets that destroy the ocean floor and catch everything in their path.

An investigator worked at two pig farms in Italy to document the everyday nightmare that pigs are forced to live through in the meat industry, and expose it to the public.