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Pig Action Group Update

- Amanda Vanstone Piggery Scandal Update

Campaign Manager & Contact:

Narelle Skinner: narelle.skinner@dowcorning.com

Latest Campaign Update

The main focus for the pig action group has been collecting feedback on the new Draft Pig Welfare Code. The national model Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals - The Pig(Edition 2, 1998) is currently under review.

The code will determine the standard of care given to pigs for the next 5-10 years. The proposed code of practice allows practices which are being phased out or are banned in many countries due to welfare concerns. For example, the code currently allows keeping pregnant sows for their full 16 week pregnancy in single sow stalls (cement or slatted floors,pensof 0.6x2 metre long). To keep a dog locked up for life in a crate too narrow for her to turn around or walk more than a step forwards or backwards would be cruel and illegal.

The draft Code was prepared by representatives of the pig industry, government, veterinarians, supermarkets, research scientists, RSPCA Australia and Animals Australia. Animals Australia's primary recommendations for higher welfare standards were not accepted into the new draft. Hence it primarily reflects the interests of the pig industry and the demands of supermarkets to produce low cost meat.

While it was possible to give feedback via the government -initiated National Pig Code Response Form, this form did not provide an option to reject the factory farming of pigs. It was clearly designed to gather feedback from people in the pig industry, not from members of the public.

For this reason Animals Australia prepared an Alternative Survey so that interested members of the public could easily provide feedback on the draft code. It is a simple 2 page document, which set out conditions and practices which are approved in the new draft code, including sow stalls and farrowing crates for pregnant sows, and asked whether these were adequate or inadequate.

During June and July a small band of volunteers collected almost 500 signed surveys, and numerous promises to filltheform on line. These surveys were completed by shoppers, who were willing to stop for a few minutes because they were outraged to see the shocking conditions in which factory farmed pigs spend their entire lives. The response was very consistently one of disbelief that such conditions were legal in Australia!

In Europe, widespread public concern about the close confinement of sows lead to an investigation on the impact of sow stalls on the welfare of pigs, by a scientific veterinary advisory committee. The investigation found that the stalls had major disadvantages for welfare and recommended that sows should preferably be kept in groups. Based on the report resulting from the investigation, the European Union (25 countries) passed a law phasing out sow stalls by the end of 2012, except for the first 4week safter mating. It also requires that the sows be given straw. Even before the law has come into effect Britain and Sweden have banned sow stalls.

If you would like to see the similar changes in Australia, please write to:

State Minister for Agriculture, Ian Macdonald

macdonald.office@macdonald.minister.nsw.gov.au

Federal Minister for Agriculture, Peter McGauran

Peter.McGauran.MP@aph.gov.au

Coles Supermarkets

Rachel Teese

Rachel.Teese@colesmyer.com.au

Woolworths Supermarkets

Adam Jacka

ajacka@woolworths.com.au

....to voice your concerns about the factory farming of pigs.

Amanda Vanstone Piggery Scandal Update

Animal liberationists have accused Wasley's piggery north of Adelaide of subjecting its pigs to abject misery.

The group Animal Liberation says it has video footage which shows the pigs in a poor condition, being kept in pens which are smaller than the regulation size.

The group has lodged a complaint with South Australian police.

Animal Liberation executive director Mark Pearson says Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone is a major shareholder in the company which owns Wasley's piggery.

He says although Senator Vanstone is not directly responsible for the pigs' treatment, she should act.

"She has an ethical duty, being a person particularly of her standing in Australia, to have made sure that whatever she has invested in that it would never ... be contributing to the suffering of animals or causing harm or distress to sentient beings," he said.

Mr Pearson says the 600 breeding sows at the piggery are subjected to abject misery.

"So the sows are extremely distressed and they're constantly trying to get out of these cages," he said.

"Some of them have serious wounds, are febrile or they have infection and fever, I mean others are so lame they can hardly move because of this confinement."

Senator Vanstone has issued a statement saying she is simply one shareholder in the business and has nothing to do with the running of it.

She says any suggestion that she supports cruelty to animals is untrue and defamatory.

Chief executive of the piggery Rod Hamann has denied the pigs are being treated cruelly.

Mr Hamann says reports that Senator Vanstone holds $1 million in shares are untrue.

He says the company will issue a statement later today.

Source: ABC On-line : Thursday, July 13, 2006. 9:32am (AEST)

Industry & Regulation Update

Or so The Beatles once sang. These days, attempts are being made to ensure that the plight of the humble Pig is getting better!

However, while the current powers that be refuse to cast away their outdated "prevention of cruelty" (particularly in Australia) laws for farm animals, and while the public is persistently kept in the dark, there is still a long way to go.

Recent months have seen undercover footage from several commercial piggeries surface into the hands of police and media. Wasleys Piggery in SA, the first to be catapulted into the media gauntlet had a rather well known major shareholder - none other than our Immigration Minister, Amanda Vanstone.

When the footage was televised nationally on Today Tonight, Senator Vanstone, who is reputed to hold $1 million in shares, claimed she had nothing to do with the running of the farm and that she is simply one shareholder in the business. This is despite her husband being a director of the company.

According to The Melbourne Age "she also holds a significant minority stake in a network of six Australian pig production companies."

Next farm off the rank was that of an unnamed pig producer in Young, NSW. The footage consistently shows undersized stalls, behavioral and psychological stresses, and a myriad of other problems stemming from the severely inadequate conditions in which the pigs are kept.

The RSPCA subsequently 'cleared' both piggeries of cruelty, stating, in the case of Wasleys, that the piggery was "almost entirely compliant with a commonwealth code of practice."

"The only exception is that many of the stalls are smaller than the minimum size, but that part of the code is not enforceable - it's only a recommendation," he said.

"Based on our inspection, there's no action we can take (against the piggery)."

Chief executive of the Australian Pork Farms Group, Rod Hammann plainly put it, "The guidelines constantly change and no piggery could afford to keep upgrading its equipment every time the code was updated." Thanks Rod.

Currently, RSPCA Inspectors cannot enter a farm unless they obtain a warrant after receiving evidence of an offence or unless they receive an invitation by the owner to inspect the farm.

It seems unlikely that farmers will be inviting their "favourite" animal rights group round for tea with soy milk any time soon, so it appears inevitable that, whilst the hands of the RSPCA are bound tightly in red tape, evidence of animal cruelty will continue to surface via anonymous means.

A recent program aired on ABC Radio National's Bush Telegraph, saw Animal Lib's Mark Pearson talk it out with NSW RSPCA's Bernie Murphy. Mr. Murphy, attacked Animal Liberation as a posse of passionate vegans trying to push their agenda and questioned their objectivity.

The Draft "Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals - Pigs", which has been a familiar vein running through all these commentaries, has only recently closed for public comment.

Currently the Code allows farmers to house pregnant pigs in stalls little bigger than themselves for the next ten years. Mother pigs are kept in 'farrowing crates', virtually unable to move, let alone interact with their young.

The proposed new code looks set to allow these conditions to continue essentially unchanged.

As Democrats' Deputy Leader, Senator Andrew Bartlett put it perfectly in one of his media statements, "Given how poorly they are enforced, Codes of Practice are little more than a PR smokescreen for governments and industry to pretend they are doing the right thing."

A brief read through the articles housed in Australian Pork Limited's (the "producer-owned not-for-profit company combining marketing, export development, research, innovation and strategic policy development to assist in securing a profitable and sustainable future for the Australian pork industry.") News Room www.australianpork.com.au clearly demonstrates, there are still some deeply vested financial interests impeding a happy life for Australian sows.

Miss Piggy once said in The Great Muppet Caper, "Lawyer? I don't have a lawyer." And as Animals Australia's www.savebabe.com website attests, "This unique species urgently needs your help."