Thanks to the joint work of Animal Equality and two other animal rights organisations, the case involving the company Amadori concludes with a hugely significant outcome, which finally places under the spotlight of justice the crimes committed every day against animals inside countless intensive farms.
There are many moments when it is not easy to fight for those who have no voice. There are many moments when one is overcome by despondency, or by the fear of being unable to assert rights that are not always recognised as such, despite being enshrined in the Treaty of Lisbon, which recognises animals as "sentient beings", and therefore capable of feeling pain and deserving of legal protection. But there are also moments when one is finally rewarded for the effort made, for the nights spent on farms filming, and for the investments every organisation makes to pursue battles in courtrooms and in the media.
This time it was the turn of Amadori, a giant of the agri-food sector specialising in poultry, a leader in the meat industry and already the subject of investigations by numerous journalists. Beating Amadori in court is no small feat, and that is why we did not do it alone — far from it. In this case more than ever we can say that unity is strength, as it should be. The activists of Essere Animali and the journalists of Report led the way, followed closely by Enpa and ourselves, Animal Equality, with complaints and investigations that provided a constant stream of new impetus to proceedings that lasted more than three years, but which finally saw the rights of the animals confined in these farms recognised.
The result is extraordinary: following the submission of a formal complaint by Enpa (with the collaboration of Animal Equality) against the company Amadori in August 2016, the two workers under investigation in the criminal proceedings initiated in Forlì chose to accept a plea deal.
The ruling: a conviction for the offence of killing and mistreating animals against the legal representative of a company wholly owned by Amadori, and for the offence of abandoning animals against the keeper and manager of the intensive farm in question. In the first case the sentence is three months' imprisonment and a fine of 22,500 euros, while the keeper must pay a fine of 1,600 euros.
This is an extremely significant ruling that finally places under the spotlight of justice the crimes committed every day against animals inside countless intensive farms. The ruling issued by the preliminary investigating judge's office at the court of Forlì highlights how the legal representative of the company wholly owned by Amadori persisted "in maintaining farming conditions such as to cause the animals unnecessary suffering".
In particular, the sows in the insemination and gestation phase were kept in cages that were too small, "not suited to the size of the animals", which prevented them from being able to turn around, lie down fully, defend themselves from flies or mice, and which caused unnecessary suffering and injuries. Furthermore, a complete "absence of adequate dry and clean resting spaces for the animals" was found, as well as an "absence or inadequacy of environmental enrichment (straw, hay, etc.)".
As a result, the animals "were subjected to conditions unbearable for their ethological characteristics, causing them unnecessary suffering and in some cases death as well". The keeper and manager of Amadori's subsidiary farm was finally convicted of the offence of abandoning animals because he "ensured that they were kept in conditions incompatible with their nature", from which "serious suffering" arose.
In August 2016, following footage broadcast on Raitre in the programme Report, Enpa decided to submit a formal complaint against the company Amadori. The footage, obtained also through the work of activists from the Italian organisation Essere Animali, showed the terrible conditions of the animals in one of Amadori's main farms.
In 2017, Enpa supplemented the complaint with footage gathered by Animal Equality investigators at several farms linked to the company, which showed the terrible living conditions of the chickens inside them. The addition of this footage enabled Enpa to breathe new life into the proceedings, which in 2019 led the Autorità garante per la concorrenza e il mercato (Agcm) to ask Amadori to modify its communications regarding chickens reared for food, as they were deemed potentially misleading.
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Now, some years after the submission of the first complaint, we have received notification of the conviction of those involved. This is an extremely significant ruling that serves as a wake-up call for all those farmers who persist in flouting the existing — albeit inadequate — laws on animal welfare, inflicting on animals further and unnecessary suffering on top of that already arising from confinement in intensive facilities.
This result was only made possible thanks to the complaint submitted by Enpa — the national body for animal protection —, the joint work of Animal Equality and Essere Animali, and the submission of extensive video material gathered by the courageous investigators who put themselves personally at risk to bring to light what happens inside intensive farms.
The impact of the investigations is immense: not only does the footage we gather in farms and slaughterhouses serve to raise public awareness and show as many people as possible what takes place in these dark places, in order to increase knowledge and awareness and encourage them to make more compassionate choices towards animals, but it is also a useful tool in institutional and legal settings for achieving concrete results in legal terms against those who mistreat and abuse these living beings.
It is important never to forget how much it costs to carry out this work, and how demanding it is for investigators as well to witness what happens in these places. But we at Animal Equality are too determined to stop.
The ruling recognised the guilt of the legal representative of a company wholly owned by Amadori, and of the keeper of the intensive farm in question; both convictions relate in particular to a pig farm. Many of the charges concerning the terrible farming conditions for chickens and the use of antibiotics — another enormous problem in intensive farming — were instead dropped.
The footage, in fact, although it was a key element in the continuation of the trial, and although it led the Autorità garante per la concorrenza e il mercato to ask Amadori to amend its communications regarding chickens raised for food — deemed potentially misleading — did not ultimately result in a criminal conviction for mistreatment of the chickens.
Chickens are the most exploited land animals in the world; more than 500 million are slaughtered every year in Italy alone. The breed most commonly used in farming is the Broiler; these animals have been selectively bred over the years to grow very quickly and to a large size: today a chicken can reach slaughter weight — between 3 and 4 kilograms — after around 50 days of life, with extremely serious consequences for its body. These animals are raised by the thousands in windowless sheds, on litter that is never cleaned for the entire duration of their brief existence.
There is still much to be done to raise public awareness of the suffering these animals endure, and for this reason we will continue our investigations. We will not stop until we have delivered justice to all the animals confined in these farms, and until we are able to alleviate all of their suffering — suffering that resonates within us every day and that we will never forget, even when the courts try to convince us otherwise.
