RSPCA Australia has fully withdrawn Huon Aquaculture’s RSPCA Approved certification in response to a video taken by the Bob Brown Foundation.
Drone footage of a Huon Aquaculture facility taken by the Bob Brown Foundation (BBF) showed workers putting live salmon into bins with dead fish as the company deals with a mass mortality event.
RSPCA first suspended the company’s certification on 6 March, initiating a 14-day period where it said it would undertake further enquiries into the video footage. After further investigation, RSPCA Australia announced on 20 March that it was officially withdrawing the certification.
“RSPCA Approved is the leading farm animal welfare certification program in the country and is underpinned by standards that go well above the minimum legal requirements,” RSPCA Australia CEO Richard Mussell said in a release. “While we acknowledge this was a single incident following many years of certification, the decision to withdraw a certification reflects how seriously we take incidents like this that compromise animal welfare.”
Huon Aquaculture said the footage in the video by BBF does not reflect its standards or established protocols.
With the withdrawal of Huon Aquaculture’s certification, there are now no producers certified to the RSPCA Approved Standard for salmon...
