Viva! 8 York Court Wilder Street Bristol BS2 8QH Tel: 0117 944 1000 Fax: 0117 924 4646 email: media@viva.org.uk	2 August 1999 SECRET SLAUGHTER OF PREGNANT COWS EXPOSED Photo-call, 12 noon, Thursday, August 5, Burger King, Leicester Square, WC1 The animal charity Viva! is launching a public education campaign on Thursday, August 5 with the backing of Sir Paul McCartney. It reveals one of the most distasteful secrets of Britain’s burger industry - the annual slaughter of 150,000 pregnant cows. At least 40,000 animals are in the last trimester of pregnancy - approaching full term - with many of the calves capable of independent life. There are no welfare regulations to protect these unborn babies and they are discarded like trash. “The slaughter of heavily pregnant cows is a barbarity almost beyond description”, says Juliet Gellatley, director of Viva! “A pregnant cow is entitled to no special consideration and is killed like any other cow. She is shot in the head, which frequently doesn’t stun her, and is hoisted by a shackle around one leg. She is then knifed in the chest, beheaded, skinned and disembowelled. Some are still conscious during this process. Many of the calves are just days away from being born and will still be living as their mothers are hacked to pieces. Such lack of compassion brutalises all of us.” Viva!’s campaign begins with a photo-call outside Burger King restaurant in Leicester Square, London WC1, at 12 noon on Thursday, August 5. Customers will be confronted by trash bins bearing the slogan - ‘Burger trash - 150,000 pregnant cows and their babies’. Inside the bins will be children in blood-stained calf masks. Leaflets will be handed out asking consumers to say no to burgers. A National Week of Action will be held from Saturday August 7th to 14th when up to 200 local Viva! groups will hold demonstrations outside burger bars nationwide. The campaign will include powerfully worded advertisements and leaflets. They picture a pregnant cow with the words ‘This is your Burger’ and a bloody calf with the words ‘This is the trash’. They also carry the slogan Meat - it’s a Bloody Business. Viva!’s veterinary adviser, Christopher Day MRCVS, says: “The slaughter of known pregnant animals should be made illegal forthwith. The unborn young are afforded no protection. When the female is paunched, the abdominal contents, including the gravid uterus, are allowed to tumble on to the concrete below and in this pile of waste the foetus is allowed to thrash and drown. In Britain we have pretensions about being compassionate to animals and this practice is wholly inconsistent with that.” This slaughter is quite legal and takes place under the eyes of Ministry vets. The British Cattle Veterinary Association’s only concerns are economic. It says: “Pregnant cows do not significantly increase the work involved on the slaughter line so their presence does not cause a problem or extra cost.” “Ninety per cent of the slaughtered cows are dairy cattle and the main reason for killing them is lack of fertility”, explains Ms Gellatley. “So unconcerned are farmers about the fate of their livestock that they don’t even carry out simple pregnancy tests before condemning them to death. So much for the boast ‘we love our animals’. A slaughterman has made it clear to Viva! that economic concerns are the prime motivation behind the slaughter. He says, ‘Farmers are to blame for the slaughter of pregnant cows - they weigh more so they get more money live weight’. Celebrities supporting Viva!’s campaign include Sir Paul McCartney, Joanna Lumley, Wendy Turner, Tony Benn, Pam Ferris, Vernon Coleman and Benjamin Zephaniah. Says Sir Paul, “It is outrageous that pregnant cows are being slaughtered in their thousands shortly before they are about to give birth. The suffering the surviving calves endure as a result of this barbaric practice is unacceptable in a caring society. I join with Viva! in condemning this practice and in calling for the slaughter of these animals to be made illegal”. ________________________ Note to Editors. In May, Juliet Gellatley received the Linda McCartney Award for Animal Welfare. Sir Paul McCartney both nominated her and made the presentation. Viva!’s last public education campaign saw all the major supermarkets withdraw from the sale of ‘exotic’ meats - kangaroo, ostrich, emu and crocodile. For further information contact Becky Smith or Lesley Jeavons on 0117 944 1000. More Information on Cow Campaign, Click Here