How PETA Helps Animals on Factory Farms (and How You Can Get Involved)

 

The meat, egg, and dairy industries are responsible for the suffering and death of over 1.2 billion animals in the UK every year. PETA works to end this cruelty in many ways, including objecting to proposals for new factory farms, releasing eyewitness footage of animal abuse in existing facilities, and promoting vegan living.

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Opposing Factory Farms

PETA regularly supports local people in objecting to plans for new factory farms in their community. For every farm that gets rejected, countless animals are spared a life of misery and a cruel death.

Join PETA’s Action Team

 

Open Petitions

Get involved with our open petitions against factory farms:

Ongoing Cases

The planning application process for factory farms often goes on for several months before a decision is announced by the authorities. PETA has submitted petitions against these ongoing cases:

  • EGG FARM IN CHAINHURST
    If plans were approved, 192,000 chickens a year would be crammed into miserable sheds and treated as egg-laying machines. Around 15,000 supporters signed PETA’s petition to Maidstone Borough Council.
  • INTENSIVE CHICKEN FARM IN CEREDIGION
    If given the go ahead, almost a million chickens a year would be crammed into concrete sheds before their throats were slit at an abattoir. There were around 23,000 signatures on PETA’s petition to Ceredigion County Council.
  • INTENSIVE CHICKEN FARM IN NORTHAMPTON
    If approved, over 2 million chickens a year would be raised on this farm and sent to slaughter for their flesh. Around 19,000 supporters signed PETA’s petition to North Northamptonshire Council.
  • CHICKEN FACTORY FARM IN SHADINGFIELD
    Following the news that plans had been submitted for a chicken farm that would send 987,000 birds to slaughter each year, PETA rushed a letter to East Suffolk Council.
  • INTENSIVE CHICKEN FARM IN EAST SUFFOLK
    If plans were approved, over a million birds would spend their lives in barren sheds before their throats were slit or they were gassed or electrocuted. Over 23,000 supporters signed PETA’s petition to East Suffolk Council.
  • CHICKEN FACTORY FARM IN NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
    Following the news that plans had been submitted for a chicken farm that would send around 1.4 million birds to slaughter each year, PETA rushed a letter to Rushcliffe Borough Council. The plans were rejected. However, an appeal was logged and is being considered.
  • PIG FARM IN SHEFFIELD
    If approved, around 1,800 pigs per year would be raised in miserable conditions before their throats were slit in an abattoir. Over 15,000 supporters signed PETA’s petition to Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council.
  • INTENSIVE CHICKEN FARM IN NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
    If given the green light, around 1.7 million chickens a year will be exploited for their flesh and endure a life of suffering. Over 17,000 supporters have signed PETA’s petition to Bassetlaw District Council so far.

If you’d like to get involved with these campaigns, please join our Action Team. We’re always ready to join the fight against new farm proposals, but we need your help. Please notify us of any plans in your local area.

 

Join PETA’s Action Team Contact PETA About a Farm

 


Recent Victories

PETA, alongside local activists and grassroot organisations, has been involved in many high-profile victories against proposed farms throughout the years. Here are some recent examples:

  • REINDEER FARM IN WREXHAM
    Plans for a reindeer farm in the Welsh county were rejected in November 2023 after PETA sent a letter to Wrexham County Borough Council. If approved, sensitive animals would have been held captive for entertainment.
  • EUROPE’S LARGEST DAIRY FARM
    Plans for Europe’s largest dairy farm were blocked, thanks to a new law in Spain that prevents farms from keeping more than 850 cows at a time. This stopped plans for new farms over that size that have not yet begun construction. If the mega-farm in Noviercas, Spain, had gone ahead, 23,000 cows and their calves – more than the human capacity of London’s O2 arena – would have been kept in cramped conditions. Around 65,000 PETA entity supporters spoke out against the plans.
  • PIG FARM IN POWYS
    Towards the end of 2022, Powys County Council refused plans for an enormous pig farm following a letter from PETA. If approved, the horrific plans would have seen around 2,000 pigs sent to slaughter each year.
  • ALPACA FARM IN DERBYSHIRE
    Soon after T&S Nurseries appeared to shut down its rabbit farms across the country, the company submitted plans to Derbyshire Dales District Council for a new venture: an alpaca farm in Atlow. PETA submitted a petition signed by 13,000 supporters to oppose the plans. Derbyshire Dales District Council rejected the plans in November 2022.
  • RABBIT FARM IN RUTLAND
    In April 2022, Rutland County Council rejected plans for a rabbit farm in Hambleton, Rutland, proposed by T&S Nurseries. The farm would have slaughtered 10,000 rabbits a year for their flesh and fur if it had been approved and kept and exploited 250 female rabbits as baby-making machines. Over 20,000 PETA supporters signed our petition to the council.
  • DERBYSHIRE RABBIT-BUTCHERING FACILITY
    After PETA and over 25,000 supporters spoke out, Derbyshire Dales District Council made the compassionate decision to reject a gruesome rabbit-butchering facility in September 2021. If approved, the T&S Nurseries facility would have turned the flesh of thousands of slaughtered rabbits into pies, pâté, and other “products”.
  • PIG FARM IN DONCASTER
    Following a petition signed by over 22,000 PETA supporters, City of Doncaster Council rejected plans for an enormous pig farm in Sprotbrough in July 2021. If approved, the plans would have seen almost 3,000 pigs a year kept in conditions that would cause psychological and physical suffering before being sent to slaughter.
  • RABBIT FARM IN BUCKINGHAMSHIRE
    Over 33,000 supporters signed PETA’s petition to stop plans for an enormous rabbit farm that, if approved, would have seen around 10,000 rabbits a year slaughtered for their flesh and fur. Buckinghamshire Council rejected the proposal in May 2021.
  • RABBIT FARM IN CORNWALL
    Cornwall Council rejected a planning application in March 2021 by T&S Nurseries for an enormous rabbit farm in Mylor Bridge. The plans would have seen around 10,000 rabbits a year slaughtered for their flesh and fur. Over 33,000 supporters signed PETA’s petition to the council.
  • PIG FARM IN LINCOLN
    An application for a cruel factory farm near Harmston, Lincolnshire – which would have condemned nearly 2,000 pigs at a time to a life of suffering and misery – was rejected. North Kesteven District Council made the decision in May 2020 following a petition from PETA, signed by over 25,000 people.
  • CHICKEN FARM IN GREAT PONTON, LINCOLNSHIRE
    Plans for an intensive chicken farm in Great Ponton, Lincolnshire, were rejected in February 2020 by South Kesteven District Council after over 25,000 PETA supporters signed a petition opposing the facility.
  • CHICKEN FARM IN RUFFORTH, YORKSHIRE
    Plans for an intensive chicken farm in Rufforth, Yorkshire, were rejected by City of York Council in August 2018 after almost 20,000 PETA supporters signed a petition opposing the facility.
  • PIG FARM IN COUNTY DURHAM
    An application for a cruel factory farm in New Brancepeth, County Durham – which would have condemned up to 4,000 pigs at a time to a life of misery – was withdrawn in March 2018. More than 13,000 PETA supporters signed a petition to Durham County Council opposing the farm.
  • RUGBY PIG FARM
    After PETA submitted a petition signed by nearly 23,000 of our supporters, an application for a cruel factory farm in Rugby, which would have condemned 2,250 pigs at a time to a life of suffering, was rejected by Rugby Borough Council in March 2018.
  • CHICKEN FARM IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
    An application for a gigantic factory farm in Rushden, Northamptonshire – which would have sent over 4 million chickens to slaughter every year – was withdrawn following a petition opposing the farm signed by over 5,000 PETA supporters as well as a campaign organised by local residents.
  • CHICKEN FARM NEAR PETERBOROUGH
    In December 2017, following nearly 5,000 e-mails from PETA supporters, Huntingdonshire District Council announced that it had rejected plans for a cruel chicken farm and abattoir near Peterborough.

Releasing Eyewitness Investigations

PETA releases eyewitness exposés of farms across the UK and around the world, documenting the suffering of animals who are abused for their flesh, eggs, or mammary secretions. This helps people make the connection between the “food” on their plate and the once living, feeling animal who endured a lifetime of suffering and demonstrates that going vegan is the only truly ethical option.

  • ‘FREE-RANGE’ EGGS
    The Happy Egg Co is one of the largest disingenuously named “free-range” egg producers in the UK. The company’s marketing materials depict happy hens roaming vast green fields, but PETA’s footage tells a different story. In reality, these sensitive birds live in filthy, severely crowded sheds and are subjected to routine mutilation. The majority of the birds seen at farms that supply The Happy Egg Co were found with portions of their beaks cut off. Beak trimming can cause acute and chronic pain and even lead to persistent agony for the rest of the bird’s life.
  • ‘BROILER’ CHICKEN FARMS
    PETA released photos of horrific conditions on a “broiler” chicken farm in Suffolk in May 2017. The images showed birds who had lost their feathers because of stress and ammonia burns and dead chickens thrown into a bin to rot. A similar video released by PETA in December 2016 shows chickens suffering on farms in Norfolk and Cambridgeshire which supply Marks & Spencer.
  • PIG FARMS
    Footage of an East Yorkshire pig farm released by PETA in August 2016 shows harrowing scenes of pigs with open sores and dead and dying piglets strewn across the concrete floor. Similar footage from farms in Norfolk and Yorkshire published by PETA in March 2016 shows that these horrendous conditions are common on farms across the UK.
  • DAIRY AND MEAT FARMS
    Hell is a place on Earth for the cows at Ibaraki Prefectural Livestock Research Centre, a publicly funded operation in Japan that uses cows as research subjects for the Wagyu beef and dairy industries. A PETA Asia investigation shows workers twisting burning-hot irons into calves’ heads, kicking and slapping cows, jabbing them with metal tools, and more.

If you’d like to be the first to hear about any new investigations and help us share and promote them, please join our Action Team today:

Join PETA’s Action Team

Promoting Vegan Living

PETA promotes a healthy and cruelty-free vegan lifestyle in a wide variety of ways, including the following:

  • Placing vegan advertisements in public places
  • Organising demonstrations and handouts of vegan product samples
  • Working with vegan celebrities and athletes
  • Providing activists with vegan leaflets
  • Working with restaurants and other businesses to increase and promote vegan options
  • Contributing to discussions on vegan living in print and online publications, on TV, and on the radio

See our activist resources for ways you can help animals on farms:

Activist Resources