Professor Peter Singer claims Australian laws fail to protect farm animals
Australia's foremost philosopher and ethicist Professor Peter Singer, co-founder of peak animal protection body Animals Australia and author of the recent book The Ethics of What We Eat, has strongly criticized a proposed national ‘Model Code of Practice’ for the welfare of pigs. The proposed code would, he said, “ensure that most pork, ham and bacon produced in Australia remains something that no ethical person can possibly justify eating.”
Professor Singer challenged the federal government to find out what the public really thinks by putting ads on TV showing how pigs are kept in Australia. He described the political processes that led to the Code as “fatally flawed” and said that the government was not “fair dinkum” about consulting consumers on how they want pigs kept.
“The government listened to the public on the Snowy,” he said. “Now they should really find out what the public thinks about the way we are raising pigs in this country.”
Professor Singer spoke out after reading the recommendations of the national review of the pig welfare code of practice. He said:
“Most Australians are completely unaware of conditions endured by pigs in factory farms. They don’t know that sows are locked for months in stalls so small that they can’t even turn around, and can barely walk a single step. Pigs live on bare concrete, with no bedding material, and can’t even lie down comfortably. If you kept a dog like that, you could be prosecuted, but this code permits the existing system to continue for another ten years, and even after that, producers will be able to keep their sows in the same stalls six weeks at a time.”
“These sow stalls have been banned in the UK on welfare grounds. Thirty-eight percent of Australian pig producers don’t use them, and can still compete economically with those who do. Why are they still being allowed here?”
On June 1st 2006, federal Minister for Agriculture Peter McGauran announced the 2 month public consultation period for the proposed national Model Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals – The Pig (Edition 2, 1998). The Minister encouraged the public to participate by providing comment.
“Most Australians don’t even know that they have an opportunity to comment on this Code,” Professor Singer said. “The political process is a charade. If the federal government is fair dinkum about consulting the public, they should put ads on TV showing the sows in their stalls, and ask the public what they think about it. I challenge them to do that. Then they’d really hear from ordinary Australians. But they won’t dare.”
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Peter with rescued pig 'Faith' |
More Information:
The Australian pig industry:
There are around 350,000 commercial female breeding pigs (sows) in Australia, producing over 5 million piglets/pigs a year. Some 2/3rds of the sows (over 260,000) are held in single ‘stalls’ for some or all of their 16 week pregnancy. The ‘stalls’ have cement or metal slatted flooring, no bedding is provided, and they are so small they cannot turn around nor take more than a step backwards or forwards (just 0.6 x 2.0 metres).
Just prior to the birth of their piglets, some 90-95% of sows are then transferred into a ‘farrowing crate’ and give birth on cement or slatted flooring with no bedding. The farrowing crate provides just 0.5 x 2.0m area for the sow.
Other countries are banning sow stalls:
There are total bans on the keeping of sows in stalls in Sweden (since 1994), in the United Kingdom (since 1999), in Finland (from 2006), and The Netherlands’ ban (no time in stalls) commences in 2008. A European Union Directive passed in 2001 (based on a report of the EU Scientific Veterinary Committee which documented the physical and psychological suffering of sows in stalls) will mean all other EU countries will ban the keeping of sows in stalls from 2013, other than for the first 4 weeks of a pregnancy.
The Australian Code Review:
The Model Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals – the Pig (2nd Editon,1998) is under review.
The ‘draft’ Code provides little change over the current Code, and allows:
- Pregnant sows to be kept for their entire 16 week pregnancy in single sow stalls (cement or slatted floors, pens of 0.6 x 2 metres long).
- Pregnant sows to be kept for up to 6 weeks of their 16 week pregnancy in single sow stalls from 10 years after this Code commences (i.e. from about 2017).
- Sows to continue to give birth and suckle their young in narrow farrowing crates (0.5 x 2 metres long for the sow) without bedding, for up to 6 weeks of each pregnancy.
- Breeding boars to be kept in a 0.7 x 2.4 metre indoor stall, and only be required to be given an exercise opportunity twice each week.
- Pigs to be denied straw or other similar material ‘to permit foraging behaviour and provide physical and thermal comfort when lying down’. This will remain merely optional.
- Sows to continue to be kept on restricted (pellet) diets (to avoid birthing complications if overweight) and be chronically hungry. The Code makes it merely optional to provide ‘sufficient bulky or high fibre feed to satisfy appetite’.
- Piglets to continue to be castrated, have their tails docked and their teeth clipped without any pain relief.
The Process:
The national ‘model’ Codes of Practice are ‘agreed’ by the Primary Industries Ministerial Council after the ‘consultation’ period, and then usually adopted by the States and Territories.
Please note: the consultation process ended on the 31st of July.
For more information about Codes of Cruelty and how you can take action click here
See also:
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