| A message from Mike King. Please forward to help raise awareness about the plight of pigs in New Zealand:
I (Mike King) visited what I now know is a typical NZ pig farm and saw the disgusting conditions the poor pigs were living in. What I witnessed was absolutely disgusting. The pigs who have been stuck in these crates for YEARS were chewing on the sow crate bars, frothing at the mouths and either highly distressed, deeply depressed or dead. Since the footage was televised on TV1′s the Sunday program, the Pork Industry Board has gone into overdrive to try and smooth over their shameful farming practices including hiring a multi million dollar PR firm to try and regain the public confidence. They have also spread malicious lies and rumours about what happened the night we visited the farm in Levin which I will address now. Pork Industry Board (PIB) MK: Bollocks! There were 5 of us who entered the premises. Me and a friend, plus 3 nice everyday pakeha kids who are hardly terrorists. I met with them at their house before we went to Levin and can assure you they are just your typical animal loving New Zealanders who want the barbaric pig farming practices to stop! PIB: They terrorised the pigs with cattle prods to get them into a highly agitated state. MK: Bollocks! The animals were like that when we got there. PIB: The pigs heard them coming and got excited because they thought they were about to be feed MK: Bollocks! We parked right next to State Highway 1 about 3/4′s of kilometer from the farm. As we got out of the car the first thing that struck me was the smell, an overwelming amonia like pungent odour that stuck to your clothes and invaded your senses. The second thing the struck me was the noise. The pigs were highly agitated before we got there. I have no doubt that the pigs get excited when they hear people coming as the would assume they are about to be fed but what I’m saying is, they were already agitated before we got there and they couldn’t have heard our car as it was too far away from he farm. PIB: They teased the animals with food by placing it just out of the animals reach. MK: This is a blatant lie. They didn’t even know what farm or night we visited so the had no idea we were even there. And surely if there was any evidence of food being left on the ground th farmer would have seen it the next morning and made a note of it? So when the story broke he would have been able to catergorically state what day we were there! He didn’t and he couldn’t because the Pork Board made that story up! PIB: They smeared the bars with food to make the pigs chew the bars. MK: Another blatant lie. Did we also feed them soap to make them froth at the mouth? Did we put eyedrops in their eyes to give them a stunned glazed look? Did we deliberately put the scabs on their arses and pressure sores on their sides to add effect to what we were filming? Did we call in our friends from Weta workshop to CGI long toe nails onto the pigs to make it look like the pigs had been in those crates for years and had grown those toe nails because they have never walked a day in their lives? Did we by some act of god deform the legs of some of the pigs to make it look like they have been so limited in their movements that their legs grew up buckled? The answer to all those questions is an emphatic NO! They were like that because the have been stuck undersized sow crates their whole lives! Not the 6 weeks the PIB would have you believe, THEIR WHOLE LIVES! YEARS AND YEARS AND YEARS!!! PIB: Mike King is out to destroy the pork industry because his contract was ended. MK: Bollocks! I started investigating the NZ pig farming industry after a friend of mine sent me an article about pigs which had a link to youtube footage “A typical nz pig farm” I was disgusted by what I saw and at the time was STILL IN THE EMPLOY OF THE NZ PORK INDUSTRY and had no idea they were not going to renew my contract. It has never been my intention to destroy the Pork Industry or ruin the reputation of Pig Farmers, which is why when the show went to air we refused to name and shame the farmer involved. On Close up the night after the story broke we said “That the farmer who’s farm we visited had not broken any rules and was operating within the law!” Our beef has never been with farmers or the Pork Board for that matter. Our beef has been solely with the Minister of Agriculture who has the power to change the law and we are demanding he outlaws crate farming when the law comes up for review in the next two months! Join now if you are against this inhumane practice. Don’t forget to invite all your friends! Email Minister of Agriculture DAVID CARTER calling for an immediate alteration of the animal welfare code: david.carter@parliament.govt.nz Contact Info
New Zealand Open Rescue http://www.youtube.com/NZOpenRescue http://www.flickr.com/photos/nzopenrescue/ NZ Open Rescue takes Mike King on an investigation into an intensive piggery. |