Press Release from Auckland Animal Action 11/02/2007:

SPCA Footage confirms animal cruelty

The Hon. Jim Anderton as Minister of Agriculture needs to get some balls and do his job.

Auckland Animal Action (AAA) is disgusted but not surprised by the appalling conditions discovered on a South Auckland battery hen farm after a raid carried out by the SPCA today. The farm is owned by convicted animal abuser Gary Van den Bogaart who has been described as “self-serving, dogmatic and callous” in a past court verdict.

On the 12th of January 2007 animal rights activists gained entry to another farm owned by Van den Bogaart and documented the horrific conditions they discovered, which included hens with open wounds, overcrowding of cages, dead birds left to rot and rat infested conditions. The video footage and photographs taken by animal rights activists was forwarded to the SPCA and resulted in today’s raid.

The footage obtained from today’s raid simply confirms the horrific conditions that battery hens are forced to live in. Crammed cages and dead decomposing bodies are not an uncommon sight at New Zealand battery farms. As veterinarian Dr David Marks concludes; the state of the birds found at Mr Van den Bogaart’s farm are ‘in fairly normal condition’ for this type of farming, however it is insufficient for the SPCA to prosecute.

AAA is strongly questioning why our animal welfare codes allow such inhumane conditions to be commonplace in a civilised nation.

The layer hen’s code of welfare was changed in 2005 to require each hen to have a minimum of 550sq cm space. This is a change from the previous 450sq cm minimum space per hen.

AAA Spokesperson Rochelle Rees comments:
“Although an increase in living space of more than 20% may sound good, in practice it means nothing. Hens will still be forced to live in cages, each individual with less space than an A4 sheet of paper.”

The Regulations Review Committee, a select committee of parliament, has since found the 2005 layer hen code to be in breach of the Animal Welfare Act. However the Hon. Jim Anderton as Minister of Agriculture has over-ruled the committee’s findings, allowing battery farming to continue.

Ms Rees continues:
”The code we have today seems to be written by the industry to suit the industry. The emphasis seems to be on increasing their profits and not the welfare of the hens. MAF appears to rubber stamp what the industry wants.”

The layer hens code condemns millions of hens to a life of suffering. Our Minister of Agriculture, Jim Anderton, is meant to ensure the well being of battery hens in this country. Recent footage from activists and the SPCA confirms that the minister is failing miserably.

AAA urges the Hon. Jim Anderton as Minister of Agriculture to get some balls and do his job.

Ends

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