The SPCA has renewed its call for a ban on sow stalls and farrowing crates, following last night's screening by TVNZ's 'Sunday' Programme of footage of pigs subjected to these extreme forms of confinement.
"We call on Agriculture Minister David Carter to ensure that the Animal Welfare Code for Pigs is altered, as soon as possible, to ban these cruel practices," says the SPCA's National Chief Executive, Robyn Kippenberger. "It is total nonsense for a code that is meant to reflect the humane principles of the 1999 Animal Welfare Act, to allow pigs to be kept for most of their lives in such tight conditions that they can't even turn round. Pigs are an intelligent and sensitive species and there is considerable evidence that this type of ongoing cruelty can lead to demented behaviour, such as biting their cage bars."
SPCA Auckland Executive Director, Bob Kerridge, agrees.
"This cruel and barbaric method of farming totally contravenes the Animal Welfare Act and is aided and abetted by a 'Code of Welfare' trhat allows it. How crazy is that !"
"No animal deserves such treatment and we must do all we can to stop it." he says.
If you missed seeing the episode of 'Sunday' on TV One, click here to view it now.
SPCA's previous campaigns against cruel farming practices: