At 12:00 pm this Thursday, several activists from Hamilton Animal Rights Defense entered a local pig farm, and chained themselves to the sow crates inside The farm, which is located on Matos Segedin Road, just outside of Cambridge, is one of 29% of pig farms that still use the sow crate

Michael Wise, from Hamilton Animal Rights Defense, says "The activists are acting in solidarity with the pigs, which spend their 3-4 month pregnancy locked in these tiny cages. They are also highlighting the injustice of the practice, and the torture involved in being continually confined in such conditions" The activists are prepared, and expecting to be arrested.

This action, which is part of an ongoing campaign against the use of intensive farming methods, highlights the Governments present review of the Code of Welfare for Pigs A campaign has been launched by several animal rights and welfare groups, to encourage the public to write submissions to the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee, expressing their disgust at the present use of the sow crate "The sow crate, a metal crate in which pregnant pigs are kept for their 3-4 month pregnancy so small they cannot turn around, is used by only 29% of pig farmers." Says Michael Wise "This is not a necessary practice, in fact it goes against the Animal Welfare Act, and is therefore illegal. These animals are suffering unnecessarily, and this practice must be stopped."

Contacts: Michael Wise Hamilton Animal Rights Defense 021 176 0860

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>