About_US

The Canadian Farm Animal Care Trust is a charitable non-government organization dedicated to  the welfare of farm animals. Our volunteer directors include scientists and practicing farmers from across the country.

We are funded solely by Canadians who care. We are not a vegetarian or political organization, nor do we have a financial interest in any aspect of alternative farming. Our philosophy is simple:

If we choose to rear, transport, slaughter and then eat millions of animals and birds every year, then we have a strong over-riding responsibility to ensure they do not suffer.

Incorporated in 1989, CanFACT supports research into new and alternative systems proven to be both practical and economical. We engage farmers in conversations about voluntarily converting to these humane practices prior to the standardization of government regulations.

We also encourage consumers to choose products which have been produced by less-intensive “humane-approved” systems – particularly for eggs, veal and pork.

We are deeply concerned with the methods of slaughtering food animals. Our directors offer extensive expertise to slaughterhouses across Canada, in particular to those facilities responsible for killing the more exotic animals such as ostrich, rabbit and elk. We are especially concerned about improving the method used to slaughter poultry.

Although a 1960 federal legislation requires animals to be rendered unconscious by an approved humane method prior to killing, this only applies to nationally licenced operations. Hundreds of unlicenced and unregulated slaughterhouses continue to operate under provincial control without such restraints. Consequently, many thousands of animals and birds are killed by methods which cause the animals and birds to suffer.

CanFACT continues to:

  • develop Modified Atmosphere Chambers (MAC) that can be adopted economically by small slaughterhouses to render birds unconscious through exposure to a mixture of gas;
  • work with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food (OMAFRA) to import and develop the Zephyr Pneumatic Stun Gun in its use with rabbits, hens and piglets;
  • support Hopeall horse sanctuary (NFLD) and Maritime Horse Protection (NS), which rescue horses and ponies from the long, arduous journey to Montreal slaughterhouses;
  • advocate for the ban of equine feedlots that crowd thousands of neglected horses in corrals for months prior to slaughter;
  • encourage changes to building codes for barns to include firewalls. Currently, tens of thousands of animals continue to die painfully in barn fires unchecked by safer construction methods;
  • ongoing public awareness of the plight of farm animals is important since the meat-consuming public can and will dictate how the animals will be reared, transported and slaughtered.