After TV research on animal cruelty: butcher shop in Backnang closes slaughterhouse
Created: 08/25/2022, 15:48
By: Sina Alonso Garcia
The Kühnle butcher's shop is well known in the Rems-Murr and Ludwigsburg districts.
Until recently, no one knew what horrific scenes were taking place behind the scenes.
© Report Mainz/SOKO Animal Welfare
These are video recordings that leave you speechless and disturbed: SOKO Animal Welfare documented brutal scenes of animal cruelty in a slaughterhouse in Backnang.
The slaughterhouse is now closed, but the butcher shop is still open.
Backnang - "Total failure": This is how the SOKO animal welfare aptly describes the procedure in the slaughterhouse of the Kühnle butcher's shop in Backnang (Rems-Murr district), not far from Stuttgart.
The evidence-heavy video material, which was recently shown in the
ARD
political magazine
Report Mainz
, is so brutal that it makes you want to vomit when you look at it.
The footage shows cows lying in their own faeces in a confined space or being electrocuted while fully conscious.
Cattle and pigs fight death struggles lasting minutes and have to suffer unspeakable pain, as reported by BW24.
As reported by
ARD
, the animal rights activists installed cameras in the Kühnle regional slaughterhouse on eight slaughter days from May to July 2022.
The first thing to see is the animals being stunned.
If it was done correctly, the animals would be deeply stunned after the bolt shot.
In this company, however, they first collapse in the documented cases and show violent defensive reactions after a few seconds.
"Some slaughterings are really like slaughtering," says the report by SOKO Animal Welfare.
Slaughterhouse Kühnle in Backnang: Employees gave the animals up to 200 electric shocks in a row
According to the animal rights activists, the employees of the slaughterhouse stabbed the animals up to 200 times in a row with an electric prod.
The genitals and udders were also targeted.
The video recordings also show animals that are covered with a centimeter thick layer of faeces and are nevertheless dissected.
After being shocked while fully conscious, the animals are pulled up on a chain and hang upside down.
The law would stipulate that the main blood vessels should now be opened quickly so that bleeding can take place quickly.
But the reality in the Backnang slaughterhouse is different: the slaughterers don't hit the cattle's main artery properly.
They die a painful death as a result of far too long a fight.
Hundreds of rounds of ammunition, stun guns and bolt guns were stored behind the factory in an unlocked shed.
"This is extremely dangerous for playing children and completes the horrifying picture of another slaughterhouse out of control," says SOKO spokesman Friedrich Mülln.
The fact that the slaughterhouse has now closed is only self-protection: "With the hasty closure of the business by the owner, they are now trying to prevent the authorities from closing the slaughterhouse for good," suspects Mülln.
The veterinary office knew about many problems and watched for a long time.
In fact, the official veterinarian even took part and illegally tortured a cow with electric shocks.
SOKO animal welfare
SOKO Tierschutz is a non-profit association founded in 2012 that campaigns for animal rights.
It is financed by membership fees and donations.
Among other things, the association conducts undercover investigations in places where animals are suspected to be harmed, informs the media and, if necessary, files criminal charges.
More information at soko-tierschutz.org.
Due to the heavy burden of proof, SOKO Tierschutz has filed criminal charges against Kühnle.
It is the 13th slaughterhouse forced by the organization in the past four years.
These included some cases from Baden-Württemberg: Frightening conditions were evident in slaughterhouses in Tauberbischofsheim, Biberach and Gärtringen.
Metzgerei Kühnle: The 16 branches in the Rems-Murr district and district of Ludwigsburg remain open
Kühnle employs 140 people and is known regionally with 16 branches in the Rems-Murr district and in the district of Ludwigsburg.
As reported by the
Stuttgarter Zeitung
, the animal rights activists confronted Fritz-Ulrich Kühnle with the video recordings last week.
On the same day, the decision was made to suspend work in the slaughterhouse and to release the employees shown in the video.
In a statement, Kühnle writes: "As a fourth-generation family business, our aim was and is to only offer products of the highest quality.
We stand for this.
We are also responsible for possible mistakes and will take all necessary measures to ensure that there are no such mistakes in the future.” Kühnle promises to improve the work processes in the slaughterhouse and to train employees even more intensively.
"The optimization of structural conditions has already been carried out in part and commissioned in part." The 16 branches of the butcher shop will remain open, and the production of sausage products will also continue without restrictions.
Scandal in the slaughterhouse Kühnle: Veterinarian participated in illegal slaughter
The national chairman of the Federal Working Group on Meat Hygiene, Animal Welfare and Consumer Protection, Kai Braunmiller, states in an expert opinion on the video recordings: "This is the infliction of prolonged, considerable pain and suffering that is unnecessary.
For me, this is a criminal offense because nobody here shows an interest in checking the reflexes.” For him, the fact that an official veterinarian, who can be clearly seen on the recordings, was involved in the illegal slaughtering is also completely unacceptable.
"This must not happen like this and should actually have consequences on the part of the veterinary office," says Braunmiller.
"I could not continue to employ such an employee."