| 23 May, 2009
Activists Protest
Against Piggery Cruelty:
Woolworths 'the not so Fresh' People
Against Animal
Cruelty Tasmania (AT) will be holding a protest at Woolworths in Sandy
Bay (King Street and Sandy Bay Road) on Saturday the 23rd of May from
10am until 3pm. This is a response to recent reports about the atrocious
condition of pigs in a Tasmanian intensive pig farm.
Footage shown on ABC news and
Stateline (Friday 8/5/08) showed cruelty on a mass scale: pigs lying in
tiny putrid stalls, being eaten alive by maggots, emaciated and lame.
Woolworths has since admitted that it purchases pork from the facility
and will continue to do so. It was further revealed that the facility
is the largest Intensive pig farm in Tasmania and that it is a major supplier
of pork to Woolworths.
Executive Officer for Against
Animal Cruelty Tasmania, Jennifer Beer announced:
‘There are approximately
300,000 breeding sows (female pigs) in Australia, the majority of these
are in intensive piggeries, confined to restrictive concrete and steel
sow stalls in which they barely have room to stand for up to 16 weeks
during their pregnancy. In intensive pig farms sows are forced to give
birth to their young in a barren structure called a farrowing crate.
This cramped enclosure, smaller even than a sow stall, restricts the
sow from having any contact with her young, other than when they feed
from her through the bars.. Her piglets are prematurely weaned at 3
– 4 weeks of age and taken away from her. These are conditions
that industry deems acceptable, the very same conditions that they work
so hard to keep the public from seeing’.
Factory farming practices affect
more than just pigs. Laying hens, meat chickens (broiler hens) rabbits
and fish are also subjected to conditions which deprive them of expressing
natural instincts and confine them to cramped and inhumane conditions.
Ms. Beer says:
‘Although today Woolworths
is being targeted in relation to the horrific footage of factory farmed
pigs which has been brought to light recently, it needs to be pointed
out that all animal products coming from factory farming systems involve
animals being subjected to inhumane treatment and intense cruelty. Coles,
IGA, the local butcher, any outlet or supermarket selling factory farmed
meat products are also directly responsible for extreme animal suffering.’
AACT demands an end to all
factory farming practices in Tasmania. AACT is currently circulating a
petition calling for factory farming to be banned in Tasmania and is holding
a public rally on June 20 from 1pm until 2pm on Parliament Lawns, Hobart.
Media are invited to attend between 11.00 am and 12 noon.
For more information:
Contact Jennifer
Beer:0408 970 359 - Executive Officer, Against Animal Cruelty Tasmania
|
