Hannes Jaenicke’s ‘In Action for the Pig’ Documentary Shows Abuse

Actor Hannes Jaenicke has been fighting for endangered or abused animals with his ZDF documentary series since 2008. In Tuesday’s current issue, “Hannes Jaenicke: In action for the pig” (available in the ZDF media library), he has also devoted itself to so-called farm animals, which end up on our plates in the form of meat. Many pigs are slaughtered in the huge factories of the meat industry, whose bosses Jaenicke accused in an interview with the Teleschau news agency: “For me, such people belong in court”.

Jaenicke also denounced what he considered a clear violation of the law in his documentary. “They break the law so brazenly that I wonder: why aren’t they in jail?” It would not just be individuals who represent the meat industry in public. “The whole system must be completely turned upside down,” asks the actor.

But shouldn’t our animal protection law prevent the torment of animals? “The Animal Welfare Act isn’t even worth the paper it’s printed on,” the 62-year-old said of the legal situation. The philosopher Richard David Precht explains in the film that the sentence: “No animal can be tortured without a valid reason” is replaced in practice by “economic reason”.

Hannes Jaenicke is committed to animal welfare

In Jaenicke’s opinion, everything is wrong with meat production when it comes to animal welfare. “It starts with a tormented breeding: the cage stand has been officially prohibited since the 1990s, but it is still a common practice in 99% of farms.” Controls in companies are rare. “Checks are carried out every 17 years on average, after prior notification.” But nobody seems to care about improving the conditions of the pigs. “Everyone is looking the other way, politicians, industry, police and consumers,” Jaenicke said angrily in the Teleschau interview.

The German meat industry generates more than 40 billion euros per year. It was not difficult to see “who really reigned in Germany – at least until the start of the traffic light government”, fumes Jaenicke. The star places great hopes in the Green Party, namely Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir, Robert Habeck and Annalena Baerbock: “There has been almost nothing among the puppets of the CDU and SPD lobby these recent years with regard to the protection of the environment and the protection of animals”. past.”