The public outrage and media furore that followed the Mike King exposé of factory pig farming prompted agriculture minister David Carter to announce an urgent review of the code of welfare for pigs, but SAFE campaign director Hans Kriek says this is unlikely.
“The minister’s announcement of an urgent review may have sounded good but the fact is that the pig welfare code was already scheduled to be reviewed this year,” says Hans.
“The National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC) indicated in 2004 that the code would be reviewed in 2009. NAWAC called for research to be undertaken in New Zealand before they made a decision whether to phase out sow stalls. Nearly five years later no such research has been carried out! NAWAC seems to have made little or no effort to address the terrible living conditions of factory farmed pigs during this entire time.”
“This lack of action is now biting them on the backside as a beleaguered David Carter wants the code reviewed quickly in order to escape further public criticism. SAFE understands a hastily formed NAWAC sub committee is now drafting a revised welfare code which is expected to be out by the end of the year. This draft will spark a public consultation process but if past experience is anything to go by then we should not expect the new pig welfare code to be finalised until late 2010,” says Hans.
SAFE is aware that the New Zealand Pork Industry Board has heavily lobbied NAWAC in a desperate attempt to retain their cruel sow stalls.
“Pig farmers want to use both sow stalls and farrowing crates, which will mean that sows would still be confined to such a extent that they can’t turn around, for 20 weeks per year.”
SAFE maintains sow stalls and farrowing crates are in breach of the obligations of the Animal Welfare Act 1999.
“If NAWAC bows to the demands of pig farmers and allows the ongoing use of these cruel confinement systems they will no longer have any integrity or credibility. If the Minister of Agriculture approves a code that clearly does not meet the expectations of the New Zealand public and the Prime Minister, he will surely know he will be committing political suicide.”
Read more on SAFE’s LovePigs page