Seventy Activists Enter Tielt Slaughterhouse

Dozens of animal activists belonging to the French collective 269 Libération Animale have invested the abattoir of Tielt (East Flanders) in the morning Thursday. They managed to free a pig and then chained themselves inside the establishment. "We are taking these actions against the meat industry, which is abusing animals," said one of the group's members, Romain Perdrizet. "At around 4:00 this morning, we got into the slaughterhouse with around seventy people and we managed to free a pig." At the time of the incident, company employees on the scene tried to stop them.

The activists then took over what they call the "death row," the corridor between the animals' boxes and where they are slaughtered. The police arrived at the scene at 5:30 am to call out the activists.

"This is the third time we have been taking such actions", explains Romain Perdrizet. "Earlier this year, we managed to release four animals from the Anderlecht slaughterhouse," he said. All released animals are collected in the animal shelter of 269 Animal Liberation.

On its website, the collective 269 Animal Liberation presents itself as a collective that fights for animal liberation through an offensive activism based on the use of direct action and civil disobedience.

The sector condemns an "excessive action":

The Belgian Federation of Meat (FEBEV) denounced Thursday "the excessively brutal intervention of the militants of 269 ​​Animal Liberation "within the Tielt abattoir. Some seventy animal activists entered the slaughterhouse this morning to prevent pigs from being sent for slaughter.

FEBEV condemned this action as brutal: "in the course of activists wounded an animal and refused any dialogue with management.In the past year, the entire sector has taken important steps to put more emphasis on animal welfare. To this end, the sector has taken structural measures by developing a charter, which has been approved by all members of FEBEV. "

The federation also believes that the intrusion of the activists has caused unnecessary suffering to the animals. "An organization acting on behalf of the welfare of animals should not cause unnecessary suffering to animals," concludes the organization.