• 02 Jul, 2025

Suggested:

Severe animal cruelty by criminal meat trading network in Spain.

They kept sheep and goats in hidden farms under the worst conditions to process the sick and dying animals in illegal slaughterhouses. Restaurants were the buyers.

They kept sheep and goats in hidden farms under the worst conditions to process the sick and dying animals in illegal slaughterhouses. Restaurants were the customers.

In Spain, the police have dismantled a criminal meat trading network. According to media reports, five people were arrested in the Madrid area for allegedly illegally distributing meat from severely malnourished and sick sheep and goats.

The meat of the animals was sold without any control to at least nine Asian restaurants and also online to private households. Four restaurants were precautionarily closed by the authorities.

Dying animals found at slaughterhouses

During searches of several illegal slaughterhouses, the Guardia Civil discovered more than 200 cramped sick and dying animals in San Fernando de Henares, east of the Spanish capital.

These animals were kept among dirt, severed animal heads, and rats. The police reported that more than 350 animals that were severely malnourished, incurably sick, or partially deformed had to be euthanized during a press conference.

Media reports describe a "slaughterhouse of horrors." Subsequently, officers also searched restaurants and unregistered livestock holdings and slaughterhouses, as well as industrial halls in the provinces of Ávila, Toledo, and Madrid.

The arrested individuals are accused of animal cruelty, violations of public health, forgery of documents, membership in a criminal organization, and money laundering.