A firm that supplies goat’s milk products to major UK supermarkets has sacked staff after shocking footage emerged showing workers hitting and punching animals.
The footage, taken at Far Marsh Farm in Hull, East Yorkshire, shows goats being punched and hit by staff while the animals cry out.
Goats are also seen being dragged by the ears and legs by farm workers and limping after getting their hooves trimmed.
The farm provides goat’s milk to St Helen’s Farm dairy company, who supply to Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose.
Shocking video footage, taken at Far Marsh Farm in Hull, East Yorkshire, has emerged showing goats being punched and hit with poles by workers
The farm provides goat’s milk to St Helen’s Farm dairy company, who supply to major UK supermarkets Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose
The footage was taken by undercover activists from animal rights group Surge at Far Marsh Farm earlier this year.
St Helen’s Farm, who sell goat’s milk, butter, cheese and yoghurts to some major UK supermarkets, said the footage was ‘distressing’ and that it has launched its own investigation.
St Helen’s Farm added that it had been informed that three employees have been dismissed for ‘gross misconduct’.
But following the release of the footage, Tesco announced that it had suspended sales of the firm’s products while they ‘investigate the matter further’.
Ed Winters, Surge co-director, said: ‘St Helen’s is regarded as the best of the best when it comes to goat farming, however that means nothing for the goats who are exploited and treated as objects.
‘They are nothing other than commodities for St Helen’s to exploit for profit, and contrary to the social media marketing that St Helen’s use, these animals suffer immensely, their bodies thrown around, hit and discarded.
St Helen’s Farm said the footage was ‘distressing’ and that it has launched its own investigation It added that it had been informed that three employees have been dismissed for ‘gross misconduct’
Tesco announced that it had suspended sales of the firm’s products while they ‘investigate the matter further’ after the video was released
‘Unfortunately for animals, St Helen’s really is as good as it gets, meaning that the only way we can avoid paying for animal cruelty, is to buy the plant based alternative instead.’
Surge claim to have found repeated incidences of punching, kicking, excessive tail twisting, swearing and shouting, and beating with sticks.
Following the release of the footage, St Helen’s Farm distanced themselves from the ‘utterly unacceptable’ and ‘extremely distressing’ scenes.
They say they have stopped supply from Far Marsh Farm, where the shocking footage was filmed.
A St Helen’s Farm spokesperson said: ‘On Sunday (July 26) we received disturbing footage that showed some employees at Far Marsh Farm, one of eight farms that supplies St Helen’s Farm with goats’ milk, seriously breaching animal welfare standards.
‘We find this utterly unacceptable and extremely distressing and cannot understand why any individual would treat animals like this.
‘We took immediate action by stopping the supply from Far Marsh Farm and launched a thorough investigation that is now well underway.
St Helen’s Farm said it had been informed that three members of staff at the East Yorkshire site had been sacked for ‘gross misconduct’
The footage was taken by undercover activists from animal rights group Surge at Far Marsh Farm earlier this year, who claim to have found repeated incidences of punching, excessive tail twisting, shouting, and beating
‘We have been informed that three employees have already been dismissed for gross misconduct.
‘We can also confirm that an independent investigation is being carried out at this farm.
‘While this issue related to one single farm, we are immediately instigating additional independent audits to verify that welfare standards are always being met at all of our suppliers’ farms.
‘All farms that supply us with milk are required to comply with a rigorous code of conduct, are audited regularly and hold several animal welfare accreditations.
‘The behaviours shown in the footage are totally unacceptable and we are reviewing why this was not picked up earlier and what additional measures are needed to protect animal welfare going forward.’