Published 13/10/2008

The Meatrix Trilogy, a U.S. cartoons series about factory farming and its devastating effects, has been launched in Europe with translations in French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese and Swedish.

The Meatrix films show the reality behind meat production in the USA and tackle the global issues of industrialised livestock, dairy and slaughterhouse operations. All with a bit of fun: fighting for better animal welfare are farm heroes Leo, the young pig who wonders if he is "the one"; Chickity, the feathered family farm defender; and Moopheus, the trenchcoat-clad cow with a passion for green pastures.

Learn more about the issues in this interactive farm scene

Factory farming is the biggest cause of animal suffering in the world today. Globally we rear around 60 billion animals a year, mostly in factories. Every year 6.5 billion animals are slaughtered for meat in the EU. 90 per cent of chickens, pigs and veal calves in the EU are reared in intensive systems.

"Farm animal health and welfare conditions throughout Europe are in desperate need of improvement," said Peter Stevenson, Chief Policy Advisor of Compassion in World Farming. "The Meatrix is a powerful way to bring attention to these shortcomings and inspire consumers to demand not only better treatment of animals but safer food, stronger farming communities and a cleaner environment."

Produced by Sustainable Table and Free Range Studios, The Meatrix made its online debut in November 2003 and twice crashed the server upon which it was hosted due to its tremendous popularity. Since then, and with The Meatrix II: Revolting and The Meatrix II ½ launched in 2006, the movies have been seen by more than 20 million viewers.

To know more about how you can stop the spread of factory farming worldwide, join our Stop Factory Farming campaign.

To help us improve the welfare of billions of animals, please support us. We receive no government funding so rely entirely on the generosity of our supporters to prevent cruelty to farm animals all over the world.

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Read more about what you can do:

• Review of the September 2008 lecture on livestock and climate change, delivered by Dr Pachauri, Chair of the IPCC
• See the Your Food section of this website and in particular the page discussing sustainable food
• Download a Compassionate Shopping Guide