In a separate statement, Lucas said: “The recent horrific revelations of abuse at RSPCA-approved slaughterhouses, filmed undercover by Animal Rising, were the final straw for me.
“The systemic cruelty exposed was unbearable to witness.
“While the RSPCA’s response was to suspend the implicated facilities and launch yet another investigation, they failed to confront the deeper flaws of the scheme itself.
“This approach not only fails to uphold their own standards but also risks misleading the public and legitimising cruelty.”
In a statement, the RSPCA said: “We agree with Chris and Caroline on so many issues and have achieved so much together for animals but we differ on how best to address the incredibly complex and difficult issue of farmed animal welfare.
“We have discussed our work to drive up farmed animal welfare standards openly at length with them on many occasions and it is simply not true that we have not taken urgent action.
“We took allegations of poor welfare incredibly seriously, launching an independent review of 200 farms which concluded that it was ‘operating effectively’ to improve animal welfare.
“We are taking strong steps to improve oversight of welfare, implementing the recommendations in full including significantly increasing unannounced visits, and exploring technology such as bodyworn cameras and CCTV, supported by £2m of investment…
“There is currently little or no legal protection for farmed animals, and very little enforcement. No one else is doing this work; we are the only organisation setting and regularly monitoring animal welfare standards on farms.
“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.”
You can listen to the full interview with Chris Packham on Radio 4’s PM programme at 17:00 GMT.
