The video and the complaint
At the end of October 2025, Animal Equality anonymously received a video shot on March 5, 2025 at the Vicente de Lucas slaughterhouse in Segovia, Spain. After verifying its authenticity and identifying the structure, the organization filed a formal complaint with the regional government of Castile and León. On 27 February 2026, the Director General of Regional Public Health, Cristina Granda Castro, confirmed the initiation of a sanctioning procedure and the adoption of corrective measures. Animal Equality has requested access to the file and is awaiting a response.
What the pictures show
@AnimalEquality
The footage documents the killing of over 200 deer captured alive in the Monte de El Pardo, a nature reserve of over 15,000 hectares north-west of Madrid managed by the Spanish National Heritage, where hunting is prohibited. The animals had been captured alive, their horns mutilated, and then transported to the slaughterhouse. Even before the slaughter began, more than five specimens had already died inside the facility, probably due to the stress of confinement.
Eight violations of the European regulation
The complaint presented by Animal Equality identifies eight infringements of EC Regulation no. 1099/2009 on the protection of animals at the time of killing. The images show animals with obvious signs of fear and acute stress during handling, pushed with plastic bags and sticks. Multiple deer were introduced simultaneously into the slaughter area, without individual separation, forcing them to witness the death of others. There was no individual restraint, and the animals were hit multiple times in the same enclosure. The most serious detail: several deer were still conscious after the shots, with movements of the tail, legs and head while bleeding, a sign that the stunning had not been carried out effectively. Some specimens were hung by only one limb still showing signs of life.
A systematic practice, not an isolated case
According to data provided by the competent authorities, the slaughter of deer in Monte de El Pardo is seasonal but recurring: 862 animals killed in December, 879 in February, 574 in August, for a total of over 2,300 animals each year. The animals are transported to an authorized slaughterhouse and processed under the supervision of official veterinarians, which suggests that the meat regularly enters the food chain. Spanish law 32/2007 classifies failure to adequately stun before slaughter as a very serious crime. Animal Equality claims that, in light of the images, effective stunning did not take place.
The three requests to the regional government
The organization is now calling on the Government of Castile and León to initiate sanction proceedings with appropriate legal measures, including the possible closure of the facility; to verify compliance with the video surveillance system for animal welfare provided for by Royal Decree 695/2022; and to ensure that the slaughterhouse is no longer used for the killing of wild animals as part of population control operations.
The connection with Italy
Italy does not publish detailed statistics on the import of deer meat, an item grouped by Istat under the generic category “game meat”. However, Spain is among the main exporters of game to our country, including deer. It is in this context that Animal Equality has chosen to make the investigation public also in Italy, releasing today the first documented images of the case.
