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Animal welfare organisations banned from showing footage of cruelty

Dresden —The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) has been banned from showing footage of the cruel reality of the long distance transport of live animals for slaughter at The Animal Transportation Association’s (AATA) 34th Annual Conference in Dresden next week. This has happened despite WSPA being full members presenting factual and timely research.

WSPA submitted the footage as part of its proposed exhibit to AATA three months ago yet only received notification a week ago that it had been reviewed and rejected by the Program Committee, the AATA-Elect and the President as they do not feel it is an accurate portrayal of the industry.

WSPA’s Sofia Parente said: “This amounts to censorship. We are not one of the animal rights groups planning to demonstrate outside of the conference. We are participant members of this association and a UN-affiliated animal welfare organization working with rather than against governments, transporters and organizations like AATA to improve the lives of billions of farm animals.”

She added: “We are not pointing the finger at AATA but urging them to work with us to encourage the industry to adopt and promote best practice so that the accurate and appalling images revealed in our film become consigned to history.”

The footage forms part of the WSPA-led Handle with Care coalition’s campaign to stop the long distance transport of live animals for slaughter. Another important contribution of the coalition is the publication next week of the book Long Distance Transport and Welfare of Farm Animals – the largest and most comprehensive academic reference on the subject of long distance transport of animals for slaughter worldwide.

The Handle with Care coalition is represented in Australia by WSPA Australia, RSPCA Australia, Compassion in World Farming and Animals Australia.

The coalition also includes internationally recognized organizations such as RSPCA, Dierenbescherming (Dutch SPA), Dyrenes Beskyttelse (Danish SPA), World Horse Welfare, Humane Society International, Born Free USA and Eurogroup for Animals.

The AATA conference will take place at the Westin Bellevue Hotel, Dresden, from 18-21 May 2008. Initial reception and exhibits from 6pm Sunday.

AATA is based in Houston, Texas and its main members are from the United States.