Hillside Animal Sanctuary - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Hillside Animal Sanctuary, based in Frettenham, Norwich

Norwich

Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...

, is the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

's largest home for animals removed from their owners by the direct action

Direct action

Direct action is activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political, economic, or social goals outside of normal social/political channels. This can include nonviolent and violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the direct action...

of animal rights

Animal rights

Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...

activists. The vegan-run sanctuary is staffed by volunteers and funded entirely on public donations. The sanctuary was established by Wendy Valentine and its patron

Patrón

Patrón is a luxury brand of tequila produced in Mexico and sold in hand-blown, individually numbered bottles.Made entirely from Blue Agave "piñas" , Patrón comes in five varieties: Silver, Añejo, Reposado, Gran Patrón Platinum and Gran Patrón Burdeos. Patrón also sells a tequila-coffee blend known...

is actor Martin Shaw

Martin Shaw

Martin Shaw is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in shows such as The Professionals, The Chief, Judge John Deed and Inspector George Gently.-Theatrical background:...

Formation

Valentine formed the sanctuary in 1995 after she witnessed the farming of battery hen

Chicken

The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...

s, and has since helped and campaigned for and on behalf of animals. She is quoted as saying Hillside's aim is to:

Today

Hillside is now home to over 1000 rescued animals including horses, donkeys, cows, bulls, goats, sheep, ducks and chickens. and claims to be "one of the UK's most successful campaigning organisations for the animals' cause."

Undercover investigations

Hillside has an animal cruelty investigation unit that acts directly on tip-offs from members of the public. The unit provides video evidence that often leads to prosecution in cases of animal cruelty. They have carried out many undercover operations to highlight cases of alleged animal abuse within the British farming industry.

Some of the more well known cases include in 2006, involvement in the successful prosecution of two employees of Bernard Matthews Beck Farm in Felthorpe, near Norwich

Norwich

, who both admitted ill treatment of animals after they were secretly filmed by a member of the Hillside unit beating turkeys with metal poles held like baseball bats. The case was brought to court by the RSPCA and the two men were found guilty. The court's sentence was 200 hours community service. Later the same year another investigation by Hillside, at Cherrydene Farm in Bergh Apton

Bergh Apton

Bergh Apton is a village and civil parish in the South Norfolk district of Norfolk, England, 7 miles south-east of Norwich just south of the A146 between Yelverton and Thurton...

, Norfolk

Norfolk

Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

(which produces for MFD Foods Ltd.) uncovered animal cruelty. The farm was a member of the animal welfare

Animal welfare

Animal welfare is the physical and psychological well-being of animals.The term animal welfare can also mean human concern for animal welfare or a position in a debate on animal ethics and animal rights...

charity RSPCA-owned 'Freedom Food label'. The 'Freedom Food' stamp of approval informs consumers that any meat carrying its logo is from a farm where animals are kept in the best possible conditions. The footage showed animals kept in squalid conditions and ducks being punched, picked up by the neck and kicked. The farm has since been sold and closed down.

Television

Hillside the animal sanctuary and also Hillside's separate work in uncovering animal cruelty have both featured in television programmes, including Channel 4

Channel 4

Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

's It's Me or the Dog
It's Me or the Dog
It's Me or the Dog is a television program produced by television production company Shed Media US, in which dog trainer Victoria Stilwell tackles behavioral problems in dogs by teaching their owners responsible dog ownership...

, BBC Three

BBC Three

BBC Three is a television network from the BBC broadcasting via digital cable, terrestrial, IPTV and satellite platforms. The channel's target audience includes those in the 16-34 year old age group, and has the purpose of providing "innovative" content to younger audiences, focusing on new talent...

's The Baby Borrowers
The Baby Borrowers
The Baby Borrowers is a British reality television series produced by Love Productions for BBC Three. The series premiered January 8, 2007. The show features five couples aged between 16 and 19...

and the BBC Two

BBC Two

BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...

programme Escape to the Country
Escape to the Country
Escape to the Country is a daytime television programme aired on BBC Two. It is currently presented by Jules Hudson, Alistair Appleton, Nicki Chapman, Denise Nurse, Aled Jones and Jonnie Irwin. Previous presenters include Tim Vincent, Catherine Gee, Nick Page and Melissa Porter. In 2010-General...

which has an episode dedicated to Hillside. ITV

ITV

ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

's Tonight with Trevor McDonald featuring Hillside's Investigation footage and the RSPCA defending their Freedom Food Scheme. Also the same programme broadcast on 11 June 2007 showing what goes on behind the scenes in the organic poultry industry. Channel 4

Channel 4

's Dispatches
Dispatches (TV series)
Dispatches is the British television current affairs documentary series on Channel 4, first transmitted in 1987. The programme covers issues about British society, politics, health, religion, international current affairs and the environment, usually featuring a mole in an organisation.-Awards:*...

programmes 'Supermarket Secrets'. The BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

's Inside Out
Inside Out (BBC TV series)
Inside Out is the brand name for a number of regional television programmes in England broadcast on BBC One. Each series, made by a BBC region, focuses on stories from the local area...

which was based on Hillside's investigative footage 'Pigs in Purgatory', also on another episode of Channel 4

Channel 4

's Dispatches 'What's Really in Your Christmas Dinner?' which won PETA

Peta

Peta can refer to:* peta-, an SI prefix denoting a factor of 1015* Peta, Greece, a town in Greece* Peta, the Pāli word for a Preta, or hungry ghost in Buddhism* Peta Wilson, an Australian actress and model* Peta Todd, English glamour model...

UK's Best Animal-Friendly Television Programme for 2006 saying: "Especially eye-opening was video footage from inside the factory farms where turkeys and pigs are intensively reared. In "Supermarket Secrets", Journalist Jane Moore

Jane Moore

Jane Moore is a British journalist, author and television presenter.-Early life:Moore was born in Oxford, England. Her father was a professor of mathematics at the University of Oxford, and her mother was a teacher...

looked at the cost consumers and animals are paying for cheap, homogenised, convenient supermarket food. Undercover video footage taken inside a chicken broiler house and an examination of the miserable lives of dairy cows reinforced how bad the conditions are for animals used for meat and milk. With information about factory farming and a Sky News

Sky News

Sky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...

report about duck farming featuring undercover Hillside footage.

Wendy Valentine

Valentine is a vegan and the founder of Hillside Animal Sanctuary (1995) and the Redwings Horse Sanctuary

Redwings Horse Sanctuary

Redwings Horse Sanctuary is a registered charity that provides a home for rescued horses, based in Norfolk, England.-Aims:According to RHS, their "primary purpose is to provide and promote the welfare, protection and care of horses, ponies, donkeys, and mules that have suffered from maltreatment,...

in Norfolk (1984). In 2005 she was cautioned by police over a protest she staged in Norwich

Norwich

city centre. She scattered six dead turkeys just days before Christmas to highlight the conditions they were kept in. Valentine is an out-spoken animal rights advocate: “We have looked at 10 [RSPCA-affiliated] farms and the conditions were so bad in two of them that the RSPCA had to initiate a prosecution of two farms they were supposed to be monitoring! Needless to say, the RSPCA doesn’t want a farm they were monitoring to be found guilty” she explains. Valentine added that while Britain has some of the best animal protection laws in the world, they are rarely enforced or upheld. “The farms are protected,” she said, “not the animals.”
In 2001 Valentine, along with a colleague were fined for trespassing on to a pig farm in north Norfolk to gather evidence of cruelty and the poor living conditions. They were fined nearly £5,000 after they pleaded guilty to entering an infected place, namely Woodlands Farm, without written permit during a swine fever outbreak. District Judge Patrick Heley described the way in which Valentine and her accomplice gathered their evidence as "improper, illegal, intrusive and irresponsible", he also dismissed their video evidence.

External links

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