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Chris Packham has stepped down from his role as RSPCA president following months of controversy surrounding its welfare label.
He, alongside Caroline Lucas, who also resigned from her vice president position, accused the 200-year-old animal welfare charity of a “failure of leadership.” In particular, they criticized the organization’s response to a recent investigation that found huge suffering on slaughterhouses certified by the RSPCA Assured scheme.
“I can’t watch another round of that footage and then see them do nothing about it and not listen to Caroline and I when we’re asking them straight questions and getting no bloody answers,” Packham said, according to The Times.
In footage filmed at four UK slaughterhouses, acquired by Animal Rising, animals appeared to be improperly stunned, hit, kicked, prodded with electric prods, and handled roughly. The RSPCA suspended three of the slaughterhouses, but it continues to double down on its RSPCA Assured scheme.
Read more: Celebrities And Vets Call On RSPCA To Ditch Its Farm Assurance Scheme
Packham and Lucas resign
The slaughterhouse investigation came a few months after another Animal Rising exposé that found suffering on dozens of RSPCA Assured farms. Live chicks were seen pecking at dead ones, animals were dying of starvation and dehydration, and apparent routine mutilations were observed. At the time, Packham and Lucas said they were in talks with leadership over scrapping or reforming the scheme. The RSPCA, however, found that the scheme was “operating effectively” after a review.
Lucas has now described the slaughterhouse footage as “the last straw.” She said it depicted “sickening, systematic, and vicious cruelty” that was “almost impossible to watch.” In a joint resignation letter, Lucas said that she and Packham held “numerous fruitless meetings” with RSPCA bosses. “We were met with delays, defensiveness and the promise of yet more meetings, rather than with urgent action,” she wrote.
Packham said that he believes the RSPCA has “lost sight of its mandate to protect all animals from cruelty and suffering.”
In a statement to Plant Based News, an RSPCA spokesperson said: “We’re very sorry to see Chris Packham and Caroline Lucas step down after many years of support and having achieved so much together for animal welfare.
“We agree on so many issues and have achieved so much together for animals but we do however have differing views on how best to address the incredibly complex and difficult issue of farmed animal welfare and that is why they have stepped back from their roles.
“We have discussed our work to drive up animal welfare standards openly and at length with them on many occasions both over the years and especially in recent months, and have welcomed their challenge.
“While 94 percent of people choose to eat meat, fish, eggs and dairy, we are working hard to improve the lives of farmed animals now, while working to transform their lives in future through campaigning and continuing to be at the forefront of driving up welfare standards.
“We have pioneered change through RSPCA Assured, which has led to improvements throughout the industry including CCTV in slaughterhouses, banning barren battery cages for hens and sow stalls for pigs, giving salmon more space to swim and developing slower growing chicken breeds who have better quality of life. No one else is doing this work; we are the only organisation setting and regularly monitoring animal welfare standards on farms.
“We know that shouting from the sidelines doesn’t work. We are a 200-year old organisation with a strong history of driving seismic change for animals and we know lasting change happens when we take people with us. This is why it is especially disappointing to be divided on this crucial issue while we could achieve so much more for animals together.”
Read more: Why The RSPCA Removed Meat Recipes From Its Website
