Badger-loving Sir Brian May has quit as the RSPCA’s vice president in a protest over cow abuse.
The 77-year-old Queen guitarist – who has spent years campaigning against fox hunting and badger culls – is giving up the role after 12 years.
He said he was quitting over “recent revelations about conditions in some farms”.
Bohemian Rhapsody axeman Brian fumed in a letter he wrote to the board members and trustees of the RSPCA: “It is with profound sadness and not without massive soul-searching that today I have to offer my resignation as a vice-president of the RSPCA.
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(Image: Getty Images for Mercury Studios)
“You have kept me informed through the Save Me Trust of complaints that have been levelled in recent months at the RSPCA over appallingly bad standards of animal welfare in member farms of the RSPCA Assured scheme.
“I have understood that the RSPCA needed time to evaluate the evidence and make decisions on action to be taken.
“But as more and more evidence comes to light, I find the RSPCA’s response completely inadequate.”
Brian added the RSPCA’s Assured facilities scheme had “failed” and “was continuing to fail”.
Brian also accused the animal welfare charity of “sacrificing their integrity” by attempting to defend its position over the controversy.
The RSPCA’s Assured scheme covers nearly 4,000 farms across Britain.
Its supermarket labels are used on items from chickens to eggs and sausages and are supposed to inform shoppers the products have been produced to higher animal welfare standards.
The RSPCA said it is still analysing the findings of an independent review of the farms in the Assured scheme and vowed to take “any robust action necessary” when its assessment has finished.
A spokesman for the charity said about Brian quitting: “We have been very proud to have Sir Brian May, a passionate campaigner for animals, as our vice president and we share his desire to create a better world for all animals.
“We have different views from Sir Brian on how best to approach this complex challenge but we respect his views and understand his decision to step down.”
They added “improving standards for farmed animals” was a “tough” task.
It said they agree with the musician “the rapid growth of low welfare industrial farming is the biggest welfare issue facing animals.”
Chris Packham, 63, president of the RSPCA, has called on the charity to suspend its Assured scheme, calling it “utterly indefensible”.
Brian is now backing the For Charlie campaign calling for the RSPCA to abandon its scheme.
The campaign has also been backed by celebrity animal rights activists Dame Joanna Lumley, Ricky Gervais and Miriam Margoyles.
It is named after Charlie the piglet, who was rescued by activist group Animal Rising from one of the RSPCA Assured pig farms that were probed after she was rescued with a huge abscess on her head.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
