Cows Slaughtered While Pregnant In Brazilian Slaughterhouse

Animal Equality has released images from a shocking investigation into the slaughter of pregnant cows in a Brazilian slaughterhouse. Our investigator filmed distressing scenes including a pregnant cow whose unborn calf struggled inside her, slowly being deprived of oxygen while their mother bled out. We also found live calves being cut from their mothers’ bodies and discarded on the slaughterhouse floor.

Before being killed, the cows undergo an extremely stressful journey to the slaughterhouse. They are forced to travel in overcrowded trucks, making them vulnerable to health issues, heat stress and dehydration. Transporting heavily pregnant animals also puts them at greater risk of miscarriage or premature birth.

In 2017, the Brazilian Government approved a regulation which allowed the slaughter of pregnant cows for human consumption. Since this regulation was introduced, the number of cows being killed while pregnant in the country has been increasing significantly.

This is just one of the abusive practices that customers don’t realise happens within the beef and dairy industries.

Carla Lettieri, Executive Director of Animal Equality Brazil

The slaughter of pregnant cows is also permitted by UK law, with an estimated 150,000 killed every year right here in Britain.

This exposé comes in the midst of an ongoing public debate around the controversial EU-Mercosur trade deal. Mercosur refers to the Southern Common Market: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – all major animal agriculture hotspots. Over 40% of the EU’s total meat imports in 2018 came from the region and campaigners are concerned that the EU-Mercosur deal will spark increased production of animal products in these countries, which would in turn lead to more animal suffering, further deforestation, and an increased likelihood of zoonotic diseases arising.

Animal Equality’s team in Brazil is campaigning to end the cruel practice of slaughtering pregnant cows in the country, as well as urging Brazilian lawmakers to increase inspections at slaughterhouses and introduce fines for facilities that do not comply with animal welfare regulations.

Regardless of where they are slaughtered, animals in the meat and dairy industries are mistreated from the day they are born until the moment they are killed. Please, spare them from suffering by leaving them off your plate.