| Outlawed animal suffering is ignored while campaigning for animals is being criminalised!
The phase-out period for battery farms expired in January of this year (2009). But, Austrian conservative mayor Karl Latschenberger continues to operate a battery farm north of Austria’s capital Vienna! VGT has presented recent photos of the farm, which keeps around 50,000 laying hens. The photos show typical, now illegal, battery cages each housing 5 hens. The farm was occupied by VGT activists for over six hours on 2nd November. Activists climbed onto the roof with banners highlighting the fact that the farm is illegal. Furious, the farm manager threatened the peaceful protesters with violence and opened a water hose on a 70 year old activist, soaking her from head to foot on a day with minus temperatures. Martin Balluch from VGT commented:”We want to draw attention to the fact that a conservative mayor can break the law, allowing thousands of animals to suffer, while the animal protection work that goes into exposing these kind of scandals through actions such as this occupation and the research that led up to it are being criminalised. We are asking, who is the criminal organisation here – Producers of animal products with their political protection and their greed for profit who break the law and abuse animals or animal protection with its campaigners who, often at personal risk, bring the public’s attention to animal cruelty?” After reassurance from from the regional authorities that charges would be made against the farm the peaceful occupation ended. |