Campaign Against Intensive Piggeries - WEDNESDAY 22nd DECEMBER - 7pm

[Guest guest]

For those on the list in Western Australia...

 

 

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WEDNESDAY 22nd DECEMBER

---->> Campaign Against Intensive Piggeries <<----

WHEN: 7:00pm

WHERE: Annalakshmi Indian Veg Restaurant - Jetty 4, Barrack Square

Transport: Walk from Perth city down Barrack Street to behind the Bell

Tower. Annalakshmi is upstairs on the right.

COST: $20 - includes all you can eat meal - proceeds going towards ARA's

pig campaign, please bring cash on the night

CONTACT: Jonathan Hallett animalrightsadvocates

RSVP: 0403 671 560

WWW: http://www.savebabe.com

 

Dinner with Hollywood actor James Cromwell.

Animal Rights Advocates invites you to join Hollywood actor and animal advocate

JAMES CROMWELL for a delicious evening at Annalakshmi Indian vegetarian

restaurant.

Check out www.savebabe.com for what James has to say about intensive piggeries

in Australia and more details about the campaign.

 

What's the deal with how pigs are treated?

The intensive pig industry in Australia has much to hide. This barbaric industry

treats female pigs as breeding machines, forced to

endure a cycle of suffering and deprivation. Five million pigs are slaughtered

each year. More than 95% of pigs are bred and kept in intensive sheds, severely

confined for their entire lives. Productivity and profit drives this industry.

It is culpable for horrendous suffering. You alone have the power to end this

barbaric industry once and for all.

 

Breeding machines.

Treated as breeding machines, sows' sole worth is gauged on how many piglets

they can produce each litter, and then how quickly they can become pregnant

again. The majority of the 300,000 breeding sows in Australia are confined in

individual metal pens (sow stalls) the size of their bodies during some stage of

their four month pregnancy -with 26% of farms confining sows for their entire

pregnancy. Many sows suffer foot injuries, lameness, cuts, abrasions, weakened

bones and muscles due to a lack of exercise. Faced with an existence so devoid

of any stimulation, these intelligent and curious animals often resort to biting

on the bars of their pens in frustration. But life for a sow gets even worse

when she gives birth. She is moved from her sow stall to her 'maternity suite'

(a farrowing crate) just prior to giving birth. This is even smaller (50 cm x

200cm) than her previous 'accommodation'. Her instinctive search for materials

to build a nest in which to give birth is futile - on offer is a barren slatted

floor or cold concrete. For the next 3 to 4 weeks with her body surrounded by a

metal frame, she suckles her young. She can stand or lie, but not turn around.

There is so little space, she is totally restricted from normal interaction

with her offspring and from forming a maternal bond. Then her young are taken

away from her. She is impregnated again and then quickly returned to her sow

stall to begin the cycle of suffering again. The piglets.At the tender age of 21

days, piglets are taken away from their mothers and raised in barren pens.

Piglets are naturally smart and inquisitive. The chronic lack of mental

stimulation and the degree of confinement that they endure in their short life

lead them to biting their own and other piglets' tails.To prevent this, their

tails are cut off and teeth clipped without anaesthetic.

 

Why keep pigs this way?

Intensive animal industries - animal factories, which keep hundreds, at times

thousands of animals in a confined area - are designed to

maximise productivity and profits. The welfare of animals is secondary and

considered only within the framework of productivity (which encompasses high

fertility and high growth rates). The pig industry argues that individual stalls

protect sows from aggression and competition for food from other sows. It also

claims that the restraining of the sows in farrowing crates stops them from

crushing their young. What is not acknowledged is the unethical basis of the

intensive pig industry itself, and that it is the drive to maximise profits

which creates these problems. Aggression results from concentrated groupings,

close confinement and inadequate space to escape from dominant pigs, from

persistent hunger and thus competition for food. It is exacerbated by

frustration and

boredom and also from the complete denial of normal behaviours, like ranging and

rooting with their snout for food.

 

The path to change.

Britain has completely banned sows stalls. The UK's 600,000 sows are kept in

more humane and alternative systems. In the rest of the European Union, a ban

agreed to in 2001 will not come into effect until 2013. Legislative change is

important, but is inevitably incremental and phase-outs can stretch over many

years, during which time hundreds of thousands of animals will continue to

suffer.

In Australia, the Model Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals (The Pig)

will be under review during the next twelve months. This Code currently permits

the use of sow stalls and farrowing crates and also tail and teeth cutting of

piglets. It allows pigs to be kept in environments that totally lack bedding or

manipulatory materials, conditions which not only create frustration but which

also contribute to inadequate bulk roughage in the sows' diet. The Code also

ignores other behavioural needs of the pigs. A 'writing group' of government

representatives and scientists is currently reviewing the Code. Glenys Oogjes

from Animals Australia and Bidda Jones

from RSPCA Australia are also members of this group, along with three

representatives from Australian Pork Limited, a representative from QAF (the

largest piggery in Australia), a representative from the National Farmers

Federation and a consumer representative from Coles Myer. Whilst clearly stating

our complete opposition to the intensive farming of pigs, Animals Australia will

seek a ban of sow stalls and other needed changes. This will not be easy given

the inequitable representation on the 'writing group' which favours industry

interests. The voices and views of Animals Australia and RSPCA Australia will

need to be empowered by community support.

 

The power of the consumer.

One of the best forms of community support to force unethical intensive

industries to change is what can be achieved through the power of the consumer.

Falling profits instantly attract attention! So growing community concerns for

the suffering and quality of life of pigs prior to becoming a product on a

supermarket shelf, will ultimately be the most effective tool to convince the

industry that change is urgent, relevant and necessary. Industry practices will

change - and change quickly - if consumers demand they must!

 

TAKE ACTION.

Inform friends and family, and encourage them not to buy intensively farmed

pork. Write to the management of supermarket chains and advise your local store

manager that you will not purchase intensively farmed pork:

Mr Gerry Masters,

Managing Director Coles

PO Box 480

Glen Iris VIC 3146

 

Mr Tom Flood

Director of Supermarkets

Woolworths

2/30 Dursley Road

Yennora NSW 2161

 

Contact Animal Rights Advocates for further information or to make a donation

to the campaign.

Post: PO Box 647, Nedlands WA 6909