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Jamie Oliver Asked To Save Kiwi Pigs
MEDIA RELEASE
25 February 2009
Jamie Oliver Asked To Save Kiwi Pigs
British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver will soon learn about how pigs are being made to suffer on New Zealand farms. Animal advocates say standards on New Zealand pig farms will no doubt shock the pig-friendly celebrity chef. Footage obtained from inside New Zealand pig farms is being sent to Jamie Oliver this week in an effort to add international pressure to a campaign to improve pig welfare in New Zealand.
National animal advocacy organisation SAFE says New Zealand pig farms fall well below standards in the United Kingdom, particularly since kiwi farmers continue to use cruel sow stalls in which to keep pregnant sows. The group says New Zealand must follow the UK by banning the use of sow stalls.
“New Zealanders watching last night’s 90-minute programme, Jamie Saves Our Bacon, will be shocked to learn that those abhorrent farming systems are also commonplace in New Zealand,” says Hans Kriek, campaign director of SAFE.
This year the New Zealand government is expected to review pig farming standards because sow stalls and farrowing crates have been found to be in breach of the Animal Welfare Act 1999.
“New Zealand cruelly confines over 20,000 pregnant sows in stalls so small they can’t even turn around. Because sow stalls are banned in the UK we are calling on Jamie Oliver to support SAFE’s call to ban sow stalls to improve pig farming standards in New Zealand. The government is unlikely to act without such international pressure,” says Mr Kriek.
SAFE’s campaign to end the factory farming of pigs in New Zealand is gaining momentum. Over 35 MPs, actors, musicians and well-known personalities such as Auckland mayor John Banks, actor Robyn Malcolm and television personality Jaquie Brown have added their support to help pigs in New Zealand.
ACTION: SAFE LovePigs campaigners will be travelling on busy Auckland city buses during peak hours tomorrow to remind tightly-packed commuters that pigs endure similar conditions for their entire lives.
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