Conditions for animals on a farm in Trøndelag were so bad that state authorities shut it down last week. Around 300 animals including sheep, hens, horses, cows and pigs were being sent for forced slaughter.
“The violations (of animals rights laws) involve lengthy periods of negligence regarding the needs the animals had for water, rest, and care,” Bjørn Røthe Knutsen of the state animal and food safety authority Mattilsynet told state broadcaster NRK. “We have actively tried to assist (the farmer a former Mattilsynet employee), without success. Instead, more regulations are broken.”
A total of around 20 inspections were carried out at the farm in Melhus, south of Trondheim, with the farmer reportedly granted multiple opportunities to improve her care of 200 hens, 30 cattle, 15 horses, 100 sows and 10 pigs that now must be slaughtered. The farmer, a veterinarian herself, has had a lengthy professional conflict with her former colleagues at the state authority, reported NRK.
It’s the latest in a string of farmers’ abuse of their livestock, in a country where agriculture is heavily subsidized by taxpayers.
newsinenglish.no staff
