An animal rights group has captured footage of cows fitted with plastic "portholes" at a French research facility which activists have branded "illegal experiments".
Animal rights group L214 published the video yesterday showing the cows with transparent plastic devices on their side.
The plastic porthole devices, known as cannulas, have been used for decades and is a relatively a common practise in industrial farming.
The animals are known as cannulated or fistulated cows, and the device allows scientists to optimise and regulate their nutrition by observing the inside of their four stomachs.
However, the animal rights group has launched an online campaign demanding authorities ban the device, adding that the use of cannulas was a "symptomatic of the way animals are considered as simple machines at our disposal".
In a video released by the group, they said: "As citizens, we call on the ministers for research and agriculture to immediately ban experiments aimed at increasing the productivity of animals.
"They have pierced a hole into the cows' stomach so they can regularly access its content. Employees come regularly to open the porthole to deposit food samples or take them out."
Describing how the cows are being treated as "milk producing machines", they added: "The aim is to perfect the most effective form of feeding so the cows produce as much milk as possible."
They also explained how they had filed a complaint to the regional prosecutor in the Mans region, Fabrice Belargent over the "illegal experiments and the serious animal abuses".
The animal rights group added: "For Sanders and those involved in intensive livestock production, which is the norm in France, these animals are nothing more than production machines, a basic raw material at our disposal."
The facility belongs to French food research giant Avril which said the "six fistulated cows" featured in the video were closely monitored and observed "extremely rigorously" by vets.
In response to the L214 complaint, Avril Group said: "This process is used worldwide for research purposes only.
"This is currently the only solution to study the digestion of plant proteins."
They added: "This analysis is essential for many advances in breeding and, in particular, to improve the digestive health of millions of animals, reduce the use of antibiotics and reduce emissions of nitrates and methane related to livestock."
French TV host Nagui Fam, who presented the footage, lashed out at the inhumane practise.
He said: "For Sanders, these cows are just milk-producing machines that need to have their settings optimised. Today, dairy cows produce on average 27 litres of milk a day, which is five times the daily requirements of a calf."
He added: "Other experiments are carried out on isolated calves in small enclosures.
"The pigs only have cold metal as their environment. The rabbits are prisoners in their small cages and they will know only these cages their whole lives. They will never get out.
"And the chickens, which are from fast-growing strains, are fed with a too rich diet and their weight is pushed to the extreme. They can barely walk."
