by Magdalena Kicińska

An animal rights group handed over to the new Czech Minister of Agriculture, MarekVýborný, a petition for the introduction of mandatory camera systems at slaughterhouses.

According to the Statista Research Department, the average Czech eats 86 kg of meat per year. Many likely do not ask themselves: how did what I eat get to me. Dramatic recordings of the unloading of animals at the slaughterhouse in Český Dvůr recently stirred Czech public opinion.

The video uploaded by Zvířata nejíme shows the unloading of animals from a transport as workers pulled incapacitated or injured cows by the ears or poked them with an electric drive. State Veterinary Administration has already started an investigation about this particular case and is carrying out a general inspection of all slaughterhouses in the Czech Republic. 

“I know that many people do not want to know what the inside of the slaughterhouse and the process look like. It’s psychologically understandable that he’s running away from it. However, it still seems very important that they have the opportunity, that is, to make these recordings and share them,” said Lucas Vincour from Zvířata nejíme which initiated the petition said. 

Vincour, accompanied by two colleagues from the organization, Martina Zabenska and Michaela Vincourova, demand that the amendment to the veterinary law, which the Czech authorities are preparing this autumn for this year, also could include mandatory online rules regarding the transport and slaughter of animals. 

The three met personally today with the newly elected minister, who had been in office only for several days, to hand over the signatures of the petition they were collecting. Currently it has around 35,000 collected signatures.

“Receiving the petition, the minister did not explicitly refer to the proposal presented by the activists. We are debating various options, it is not possible to give a clear opinion at the moment,” said Vojtěch Bílý, spokesperson for the minister of agriculture disclosed after the meeting.

“Activists will not stop at submitting the petition and will return with questions to the authorities. – We believe that exerting pressure makes sense and it is our duty,” added Michaela Vincourova.