What we did in 2012

Exposing the "Adom Adom" slaughterhouse

In December 2012, Israel leading investigative TV program, Kolbotek, aired one of the most comprehensive investigative reports ever performed in Israel on the animal-based food industry. It exposed the serious animal abuse in Israel's largest slaughterhouse, Adom Adom in Beit She'an. This was made possible thanks to the cooperation between the Kolbotek team and Anonymous activist Ronen Bar, who managed to get a job there. Bar secretly managed to document how calves and young sheep are pushed towards slaughter violently, through the use of whips and electric shockers, and being dragged by their limbs or other body parts, sometimes even with the help of a forklift.

Immediately upon the airing of the program, Anonymous launched the special website TnuvaCruelty, which exposes additional information from the investigation, not aired on the program. This exposé led to an unprecedented wave of media attention, on news and current affairs programs on TV and radio, and in major national newspapers. All of this led to a criminal investigation against the slaughterhouse, with Anonymous appealing to Israel's High Court to close it altogether.

Anonymous demonstration following the Adom Adom exposé, 10/12/2012 

As opposed to Tnuva's response, which claimed this was an irregularity, many of the media reports emphasized the fact that such abuse is standard practice in the animal-based food industry. In fact, similar abuse of calves transported to Adom Adom was exposed by Anonymous only last year at the place in the southern Arava valley where they are brought after spending miserable weeks on sea en route from Australia. Many publications also stated that this is not unique to Tnuva, but a common problem within all the animal-based food industry.


The investigation also enjoyed some media attention outside of Israel – ABC Australia broadcast a report on the investigation with an interview with Ronen Bar. Since these were calves shipped to Israel from Australia, the Australian authorities started an investigation of their own. This was due to a recent act there – following a campaign by animal rights organizations – that stipulates that animal exporters there may be criminally charged for animal welfare issues even if those happened outside Australia.

Undercover investigation at Israel's largest turkey chick hatchery

Another investigation of the animal-based food industry was held this year in Israel's largest turkey chick hatchery, Ramit Hatchery, partly owned by the very same Tnuva (see above). This hatchery produces 8 million chicks annually, about half of the Israeli turkey market. An Anonymous undercover investigator was employed in that hatchery and documented the chick sorting process during which they're brutally thrown onto the conveyor belt. Many chicks fall to the floor where they are left to die. She also documented the cutting of beaks, done in order to deal with the violence which is a direct result of the crowded conditions in which turkeys are kept. Another undercover investigation by Anonymous resulted in some harrowing footage.

This investigation was exposed on main news channels and in newspaper reports.

The Ramit Hatchery was already convicted for animal abuse in 2011, following a report in a local paper exposing how it used to throw live chicks (considered "faulty") in garbage bags to die of hunger, thirst or suffocation. Following this incident, the hatchery was fined NIS 60,000, but as the Anonymous investigation shows, it wasn't enough to deter it from continuing to abuse animals.

Exposing the cruel fish killing methods

Another investigation, published in April 2012, exposed the cruel killing methods used in the fish industry. This investigation was held at the "Dagat Ha'aretz" fisheries near Beit She'an, which controls about 45% of the fresh fish marked in Israel. The fish killing method there is by ice water freezing, a method which supposedly kills them fast. However, as the Anonymous investigation shows, this method doesn't guarantee a quick death, and they may suffer a long agonized death while suffocating and twitching.

The video from the investigation was published in a leading news website and it was also covered in local papers.

The campaign to remove the Animal Welfare Law from the hands of the Ministry of Agriculture

In July 2012, Anonymous published a report called "Eighteen Years of Ignoring Abuse", which lists the continuous failing of the Ministry of Agriculture to enforce the Animal Welfare Law.

Despite the fact that the Animal Welfare Law, passed in 1994, empowered the Ministry of Agriculture to set up new regulations to apply the Law in those areas where animals are abused by humans, it failed to perform its duty: In most areas no animal protection regulations had been set up, while draft regulations for the Ministry of Agriculture's attention have been delayed for long periods, awaiting approval. In areas where regulations had been set up, it only came to be following long public campaigns which put pressure on the Ministry; not thanks to the Ministry itself. Furthermore, in several cases the Ministry of Agriculture even tried to regulate in such a way that existing animal abuse should be perpetuated, instead of reducing it.

The report criticizes the conflict of interests built into the fact that it is the Ministry of Agriculture which has most of the authority regarding the enforcement of the Animal Welfare Law – yet it is the ministry closest to the interests of the agricultural industry, which are against those of the animals.

Immediately after publication of the report, Member of Knesset Alex Miller drafted a bill according to which Animal Welfare Law enforcement would be taken out of the Ministry of Agriculture and moved to the Ministry of Environment Protection, which is less influenced by food industry interests and is expected to better enforce the Law. The bill was approved by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, but following an appeal by the Minister of Agriculture, Orit Noked, and much delay (as well as the early elections) the bill was not voted on in the current Knesset. Several Members of Knesset promised they would continue fighting to achieve this goal in the next Knesset as well.

The need to remove the enforcement of the Animal Welfare Law from the Ministry of Agriculture in order to better handle this Law also reached the media. Among others, the ex-MK who originally drafted the Animal Welfare Law, Avraham Poraz, agreed in a radio interview that leaving it in the hands of the Ministry of Agriculture has a negative impact on its enforcement. Another TV news report following the Adom Adom exposure (see above) listed a long list of failures by the Ministry of Agriculture to enforce this Law.

Appealing to the High Court against the pig industry

One of the areas in which the Ministry of Agriculture failed its duty to regulate on the basis of the Animal Welfare Law was the pig industry. Draft regulations regarding the way pigs are kept were placed at the Ministry's door already in 2003, but in the nine years since then nothing was done to approve these regulations. The draft regulations demand a stop to the abuse currently routinely done in the pig meat industry, such as keeping pregnant sows in "breeding stalls" and "suckling stalls" virtually without any way to turn around, as well as tail docking, Teeth clipping and castration – all performed today on piglets with no anaesthetics or painkillers.

In May 2012, Anonymous, together with "Let Animals Live", appealed to the High Court demanding an order nisi requiring the Ministry of Agriculture to explain why no regulations are drafted setting minimal protection for pigs on the basis of the Animal Welfare Law.

Shortly after that appeal, inspectors from the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Environmental Protection jointly raided the Ma'ilya piggery, exposing severe neglect and abuse. The Ma'ilya piggery abuse had already been exposed by Anonymous photographs shown on investigative program Kolbotek over two years ago, but only after our appeal and the the threat to remove the Animal Welfare Law from the Ministry of Agriculture's hands, has some action finally taken place in this area.

Campaign against starving chickens

For several years, Anonymous has been leading the campaign against the Egg industry reform, in which the Ministry of Agriculture plans to replace most of the smaller hen houses in Israel with mega battery cage facilities, cages so small that the hens can't even open their wings inside them.

In response to appeals by Anonymous and other organizations, the High Court of Justice issued in 2009 an interim order forbidding the reform until minimum conditions for the chickens are defined. The Ministry of Agriculture has tried for several years to regulate in a way that would allow continued use of small battery cages, so the discussion regarding hen caging methods was transferred to the government's Social-Economical Cabinet to decide.

The Cabinet voted for alleviating the way chickens are kept, as well as against starving chickens within the egg industry. Today starving the chickens is a common means to perform "forced molting" – a process aimed at quickly terminating the hens' egg laying cycle in order to force the start of a new cycle.

This prohibition on starving chickens was supposed to be valid from early 2013, but despite the Cabinet's decision, the Ministry of Agriculture recently announced that it is opposed to prohibiting the starving and requires an extension of the current procedure for 4 additional years. Anonymous continues to fight against the starving of chickens despite the Ministry of Agriculture's support of this procedure.

Helping beginner vegans: Nutrition workshops

In May 2012, Anonymous organized an introductory workshop on veganism in order to help those who wish to move to a plant-based diet. The workshop was led by Tom Sivan, a vegan blogger, and Kerem Avital, a Clinical Dietician specializing in veganism.

While the workshop was planned for about 15-20 participants, the interest it raised dictated that it should be expanded to include 90 people, and many more have been transferred to waiting lists for future workshops. Since then Anonymous held seven similar workshops, in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa.

The Veganism made easy recipe book

In addition to workshops (see above), Anonymous also offers a personal dietary consultation at a discount rate (also given by vegan dietitian Kerem Avital).

In 2012, Anonymous also produced a vegan recipe book called Veganism made easy, sent free of charge to thousands of people.

Education

Anonymous continues to run a team of volunteers running lectures in schools, youth organizations, military camps and university campuses across Israel. In 2012 Anonymous volunteers gave lectures to over 40,000 school students, soldiers and university students.

In addition, in 2012 Anonymous produced the Share the World kit. It contains a large variety of lesson plans, worksheets, presentations and ideas on how to encourage school students to protect animals. This kit is sent free of charge to educators, by request, and in 2012 over 1,500 such kits were ordered. The video accompanying the kit is one of the most popular videos in Anonymous' YouTube channel, winning so far over 11,000 views.

Anonymous' Live Action website offers many more lesson plans and animal rights ideas.

Anonymous on the internet

In 2012, Anonymous launched a new website, animal.org.il, which is a portal for people to learn about animal rights, vegetarianism, veganism and activism, with much fewer hard-to-watch images, in order to apply to as wide an audience as possible

Anonymous' weekly internet webzine, "Animal Rights This Week", sent weekly by email to about 35,000 subscribers, had this year celebrated its 12th year. Several articles from the webzine were also published in the nrg Maariv green channel: Among others, there were articles on the trend to eat less meat and become vegetarian in the USA, on Mahatma Gandi's activities for animal protection, and on the distress felt by fish due to their overcrowding in aquariums.

Anonymous Facebook page continues to grow and reach out to an ever increasing audience of over 50,000 people. In Anonymous' YouTube channel, over 250,000 views have been registered.

Would you like to help?

Anonymous continues to expand, and is looking for people who'd like to get involved in our activities and help us protect animals. If you wish to help us, please contact us about volunteering or about offering us a donation.