Horrific welfare issues found on UK trout farms

Vegan charity Viva! has exposed several welfare issues such as overcrowding after investigating two fisheries in the UK.

The fish farms accused of breaching welfare standards sell rainbow trout to high-end outlets including Waitrose, Harrods, The Ritz and The Ivy.

Viva! recorded footage to show the overcrowded conditions and sad reality of fish under extreme stress whilst being injured or left to die in dirty faeces ridden water. The murky ponds go against RSPCA guidelines as this leaves the fish open to predation.

Despite the cruel findings of the investigations, the Chalkstream Foods farm is part of the RSPCA Assured Scheme and Trafalgar Fisheries are certified by Quality Trout UK.

The RSCPA issued a statement after watching footage taken at one of the farms. It says: “We are all deeply upset and concerned at what is shown. It is totally unacceptable for fish to be treated in this way.

“We have launched an investigation and suspended three of the sites in the video, which means these farms cannot be marketed as RSPCA Assured. Our investigations are now ongoing.”

“I would like to stress that any allegations of animal welfare issues, or breaches of the RSPCA Assured membership agreement, are not tolerated and taken very seriously.”

Article written by Martha Moody- United Kingdom