L214, a French voice for animals

Photo credits: www.l214.com

The admiration for French ‘cuisine’ always makes me smile – I am torn apart the pride I feel for my country’s international recognition and yet, the sad realisation that French food is too often based on meat and other animal products. Being vegan in France is well… quite misunderstood, to be honest, as so many waiters still ask me if I’d like cheese on my pasta.

Promoting veganism in the largest producer and exporter of probably the cruelest food ever made – you guessed right, I’m talking about the outrageous foie gras – is not easy, hence I would like to highlight here the relentless efforts of one charity that I follow closely: L214, whose name cleverly refers to the French rural code article declaring animals as ‘sentient’ for the first time in 1976. L214’s newly-published book entitled Une Voix pour les Animaux (‘A Voice for Animals’) acted as a true eye-opener for me on the conditions of farm animals.

Photo credits: www.l214.com

To begin with, I was truly impressed by the courage of the two founders of the organisation, Brigitte Gothière and Sebastian Arsac. As the book narrates the history of the charity, I was astonished to discover that the only mean for them to get information of what is really going on in a factory farm or a slaughterhouse is to get hired by the facility. Sebastian explains how he became sick after “only” three weeks spent working in a slaughterhouse, as he was desperately trying to capture images on his hidden camera.

I’ll leave out of this post the descriptions of cruelty scenes, but just to give you key numbers from the book: - 68% laying hens - 82% chicken - 95 pork - and 99% rabbits are bred in factory farms in France. These numbers can be related to the yearly average consumption of meat by a French person, amounting to 68,4 kilograms.

‘Battery-cage farming: nothing to hide?’. Photo credits: www.l214.com

Their investigative technique led L214 to condemn several slaughterhouses for violence to animals and not respecting the animal welfare law applying to farm animals. In 2016, the creation of a parliamentary inquiry into slaughterhouses conditions has even been prompted thanks to L214’s mobilisation – since France is lacking behind the UK in terms of placing CCTV in slaughterhouses. As of today, the first-ever lawsuit of a slaughterhouse for cruelty to animals is taking place in France, against the Vigan slaughterhouse where employees have been filmed kicking and inflicting sheep electric shocks.

Furthermore, I really appreciate that the book does not condemn slaughterhouse workers or farmers – on the contrary, the book gives a voice to farmers, in particular those who have turned to plant agriculture.

What I like probably most with L214 is that they organise “express” campaigns through which they call their supporters for actions: by mobilising on social media or flooding companies with emails, L214 and their supporters have managed to convince companies to use better animal products! Notably, Panzani or the supermarket chain Super U have pledged to ban battery-cage eggs from their products. Moreover, GAEC Perrat, rearing laying hens in awful conditions, has been closed.

Demonstration organised by L214 in June 2017. Photo credits: www.ParisMatch.com

For now, A Voice for Animals has only been published in French but I highly recommend checking them out on Facebook, Twitter or their website, as well as to sign their petitions and contribute to their express campaign actions!