by Sue Kedgley
The government quietly released the Hen Code of Animal Welfare today (two years late) – probably hoping that no one would notice it amidst all the fuss about Hone and the opening of Parliament.
And no wonder they sneaked it out without even a press release—because the Code is a terrible document. It allows battery hen cages to remain in existence for at least another twenty years, to be replaced by what it euphemistically calls ‘enriched cages’ or ‘colony systems.’
The new cage systems would give hens a tiny bit more useable space – about the size of a credit card more –and have a wire perch and a so called nesting box in them.
But a cage is a cage by any other name, and the hens would still be imprisoned for their entire lives in barren cages where they would not be able to stretch their wings or get away from other hens. They would still have about the size of an A 4 sheet of paper of space, and they would still be forced to stand on sloping floors and would suffer from foot damage as a result, along with skin damage and feather loss from rubbing against the cages.
The National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee, which released the code, admits that cages breach the purposes of the Animal Welfare Act. But they have invoked a section of the act –section 74—to argue that cages should be allowed to remain indefinitely, even though they breach the act, because it would be too expensive and difficult for the industry to get rid of them.
They have produced two ‘economic analyses,’ which were commissioned by the Egg Industry, to claim that the industry would collapse and the price of eggs would soar if cages were phased out. But hey, barn eggs are only 5-6 cents more than battery hen eggs, and the price would reduce further if barn eggs and free range eggs became much more widespread.
The economic arguments they use are almost identical to the arguments the pork industry used to try to stop sow crates from being phased out. But in the end the government had to bow to public pressure –and get rid of sow crates, and we can do it again.
It’s election year, and we need to make getting rid of the battery hen cage an election issue. Imprisoning millions of hens in barren cages for all of their lives where they suffer continuously is inexcusable, especially when there are perfectly valid alternatives such as barn raised and free range eggs.
Published in Environment & Resource Management by Sue Kedgley on Tue, February 8th, 2011
Tags: animal welfare, battery hens, NAWAC
More posts by Sue Kedgley | more about Sue Kedgley
on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
Why oh Why are the Green Party so intent on pushing up the Cost of food by insisting on Free range Eggs & Free range pork? The Cost of food is high enough now, without it going even higher. It may be OK for Green MPs but it’s not OK for folk on fixed incomes.
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go vegan..claire…
stop killing/mutilating/cooking/eating what are beautiful/affectionate creatures
http://whoar.co.nz/?s=vegan
..and sue kedgley argues for slightly more humane concentration camps..
..thus setting new benchmarks in incrementalism…
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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Claire, the Green Party wants to do lots of things to make food more affordable, including raising the minimum wage, raising base welfare benefits, and then indexing rates to a basket of food, energy and housing price indices and legislating for a benefit level floor to ensure main benefits cannot fall below a fixed percentage of the average wage.
But I, for one, cannot accept that animals should be forced to suffer extraordinarily miserable lives until their slaughter just to provide cheap food for people.
But I agree that we should assure people can afford food that is not produced by cruel methods. The way to do that is by raising the incomes of those who currently feel they have no viable financial choice but to buy factory farmed animal produce if animal produce is what they want to eat.
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Yes, that is an option Phil. But I cannot accept it should be a compulsion.
I do believe, however, that there should be some compulsion about animal welfare, and that the current rules re both pig and chicken farming are unacceptable and should be regulated against.
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but you eat them toad…
so any opinion you hold on this is worthless…
..because it is coloured by yr addictions to flesh/fat/blood….
..it’s like asking a heroin addict how they feel about having their supply cut off/ended…
..and i am not exactly sure where i mentioned ‘compulsion’..
i provided a link offering an alternate/healthier pathway…
..just leading the carnivores to some animal-enlightenment…
…something you could do with..
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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“‘enriched cages’ or ‘colony systems.’”
Are they talking about the us or the chickens?
Claire
Free range products earn New Zealand more on the export scene per/kg. Increases to export income on produce of this kind cannot be underestimated. There is an untapped market that goes begging while New Zealand focuses on quantity and not quality eco friendly sustainable produce. Even the Natz can’t be blind to this opportunity, can they?
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the modern day good slave owner arguments…
they are as fallacious now as they were then…
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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What they’re proposing is 18 hens per square meter. I just marked out a square meter on the ground and tried to imagine fitting 18 hens into it. Try it yourself – it’s pretty small!
I don’t think this is a radical proposal at all. Sounds more or less like business as usual to me.
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Phil, that is a fundamentalist approach that is not helpful. I do eat (only organic) pork and chicken from time to time. I acknowledge your view that a vegan diet is more ecologically sustainable, and accept that your view on this is scientifically validated.
Different people have different degrees of commitment to various aspects of ecological sustainability. In my case, I have not owned a car and have only three times driven one in the last 8 years.
I don’t think it is helpful to put people down because of their failure to behave in a way that is an important part of what you perceive as being Green.
Far better to positively acknowledge everyone’s efforts towards ecological sustainability, and encourage people to do more, than to go on the attack against those who, like you, are making an effort, but not necessarily on the same issue you are or to the extent you would like.
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we’re not talking about driving a bloody car..
..you equate driving a car with abusing/killing eating animals…?
..you really are an addict…eh..?..(“..but..but..i…”)
so..why do you do it..?
why can’t you just leave the fucken animals alone…?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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Clearly the moral and ecological issues are similar but not the same. My reason for being vegetarian is based on the inhumane ways the animals are treated. I cannot consume because I understand the realities of this horrendous culture.
However if an animal has a good life on an organic farm which it would normally not have, I see no moralistic issues, although some of the ecological issues remain even with organic farming. I see pollution from industry as a far greater ecological issue.
My stance is to not consume even when organic produce is available because the majority of the industry in New Zealand is disgusting and turns my guts.
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anyone watching the fucken hen concentration camp owner on brek-telly..?
how could that not be a clear example of the failures of incrementalism…
..they are just fucken laughing at you…
this is the results from 11 yrs of yr brand of ‘activism’…
..ms kedgley…?
an anatomy of fucken failure…eh…?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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why vegans glow….
http://whoar.co.nz/2011/why-vegans-have-that-golden-glownow-we-can-say-eat-fruit-and-veg-and-you-will-look-better-in-six-to-eight-weeks/
“…Most of us know that eating five portions of fruit and vegetables a day will do us far more good than 20 minutes on a sun bed or two hours basted with factor 10 and sprawled on a Mediterranean beach in high summer.
But new research suggests that it will also make us more attractive to the opposite sex.
Consequently, it seems far more likely to affect the dietary habits of the young – than any amount of hectoring from the Department of Health.
“Currently we tell them to ‘eat well or in 50 years you will have a heart attack’,” says Ian Stephen, 29, assistant professor of psychology at Nottingham University’s Malaysian campus.
“Now we can say: ‘eat fruit and veg and you will look better in six to eight weeks’.”
But he is adamant that he never set out to find a novel way of reinforcing medical advice.
“I don’t really care what people do,” he insists.
“I’m an experimental psychologist, not a public health PR man.
However, our results suggest that eating well – and staying out of the sun – would make you look healthier.”
How come?
Well, the key component is the carotenoid – an antioxidant responsible for the red colouring found in, for instance, tomatoes, peppers, plums and carrots.
That redness eventually imbues the human skin with yellowness – or rather a healthy-looking golden glow.
“Carotenoids are stored in fat under the skin,” Stephen explains.
“They are also secreted through the skin in serum – and are then reabsorbed into the top layer of the skin -
- bestowing that golden colour.”… (cont..)
phil(whoar.co .nz)
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The government could help with a change-over period of no more than 3 years by providing tax relief to the entire industry (existing humane businesses should not be disadvantaged for moving early) during the transition period.
This is a problem requiring the heavy hand of government given that the industry has largely failed to respond over the last 20 plus years. I don’t often say that, but enough is enough.
@Phil U: Good points. I don’t agree with all of them, but I’ll listen.
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There is an untapped market that goes begging while New Zealand focuses on quantity and not quality eco friendly sustainable produce. Even the Natz can’t be blind to this opportunity, can they?
‘New Zealand’ doesn’t make these products, farmers do. Re: producing “quality eco friendly sustainable produce”, the opportunity is there for the farmers to take advantage of, if it’s there, which they do to some extent, but this is contingent on demand. Not sure if there’s that much of it really, but certainly more than 10 years ago.
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United Nations Trade and Development Agency (UNCTAD) report. – World sales from certified organic products are expected to reach $67 billion in 2012, up from $46 billion in 2007 and about $23 billion in 2002.
Global Organic Food & Drink Sales Approach US$ 60 Billion
http://www.goma-organic.org/around-the-world/global-organic-food-drink-sales-approach-us-60-billion-2/
If New Zealand (including its farmers) was smart, we would catch the gravy train before it leaves.
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At the moment it’s the animals that pay the price for these cheaply priced battery eggs. Free range eggs are more expensive but they are still a cheap source of protein and energy.
When slavery and child labour was banned did it put prices up? Yes? And was there blame put on the MPs then? And now still, when the Green MPs highlight child slavery? Who would argue in favour of child slavery just to keep prices down?
Although I don’t agree that they should, food prices go up all the time. When the dairy industry puts its prices up so that they can make more money, I don’t hear the complaints.
But if prices go up so that animals can have a marginal better life the whingeing starts.
It’s time for us all to grow up!
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When the dairy industry puts its prices up so that they can make more money, I don’t hear the complaints.
You’ve been on Mars for the last decade then? In any case (!) I think people eventually accept the rationale for those price rises – overseas demand raises prices, good for farmers etc. Animal welfare raises different issues.
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Todd, I can find plenty of more recent articles talking about how people are buying less of that stuff. In any case, if you can find stats like that from 5 seconds of Googling, that begs the question about what decisions are being that stops NZ farmers (or more accurately more NZ farmers) from getting into that stuff.
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I notice you have not included my comment sent yesterday quoting from the MAF report that has clearly shown that cage farming is not cruel. As I said, this has been studied by MAF vets many times. The country can simply not rely on barn or free-range chickens given the high instance of disease and mortality. Please look at the issue objectively – base you decisions on factual information.
[frog: Sorry, Helen, cannot find in "spam" or "deleted" queues the comment you refer to and I assure you it was not intentionally censored. Yes, I agree decisions of this nature should be evidence-based. But the evidence I have seen does not lead to your conclusion. If you want to go down that path, then front the evidence to support it.]
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Not one chicken filled in the complaint form then?
I’d love to see the MAF report, if you have a link. And after me, the legal defence team for Josef Fritzl might want to use it for their appeal.
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I’m with peta and not eating any kinda meat, better to be vegan and protect animals, its not fair to kill them for food.
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“quoting from the MAF report that has clearly shown that cage farming is not cruel”
It is clearly cruel. There is no way that you can argue that keeping chickens in these conditions allows them to express their natural behaviours. I’d love to know their methodology for making this proclamation, so by all means feel free to provide us with a link.
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The trick with these things is to get your opinion in with a submission. Concerning animal welfare, I think you can best do that by Subscribing to:
MAF: http://www.maf.govt.nz/
NZ Biosecurity: http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/lists/
Here is another good place to get active with submissions: http://www.ermanz.govt.nz/
The welfare of laying hens is guided by the Animal Welfare (Layer Hen) Code of Welfare 2005, which was created by the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee, a ministerial committee made up of animal-welfare “experts and advisors”.
http://www.maf.govt.nz/biosecurity-animal-welfare/animal-welfare.aspx
Here is the (draft) Animal Welfare (Layer Hens) Code of Welfare 2011:
http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/biosec/consult/code-of-welfare-for-layer-hens
Maximum layer hens per sq m = 20 for Cages built prior to 1 January 2005. Ridiculous!
“The adoption or adaptation of an industry generic welfare assurance programme for welfare and husbandry procedures will meet these recommendations”.
Being that the recommendations are so limited, that’s acknowledgment that there is no proper animal welfare or monitoring system in place at the moment.
“Complaints made about non- compliance with the Animal Welfare Act 1999 including cases of animal ill-treatment or cruelty are investigated by MAF and the SPCA. While the vast majority of complaints are dealt with through consultation and education*, successful prosecutions against persistent or blatant offenders are routinely undertaken**.
*Consultation and mediation ie the complaint is dismissed.
**There are routine persistent and blatant offending of animal rights.
Further reading can be found here:
http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/animal-welfare/codes/layer-hens/index.htm
http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/regs/animal-welfare/pubs/nawac
“The Industry recognises that conventional cages limit birds’ ability to express natural behaviour and have been looking at alternatives for some years. Until the recent development of the colony system there has been nothing available that meets the objective of improved welfare without pushing eggs beyond the means of the general consumer.”
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1102/S00293/draft-code-of-animal-welfare-for-layer-hens.htm
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