No consultation on pig welfare regulation changes - SPCA

The SPCA, not initially consulted on the government's changes to pig welfare regulations, has told MPs the bill reveals "serious failings" at Parliament.

The NZ Pork industry group, which was consulted, says it did not get everything it asked for - but can "accept" the 13 percent larger space requirement for growing pigs.

The government this month announced its plans to change pig welfare regulations including around the use of the crates - which confine mother pigs, or sows - to avoid having piglets crushed when the sow lies down.

After court rulings found the use of the crates breached the Animal Welfare Act, the previous Labour government legislated to ban the use of the crates giving farmers five years to change to a different system - that deadline is due in December.

But the government's new bill delays any change until 2035 and continues to allow crates to be used, but for less time.

Documents have shown the government's own animal welfare experts disagreed with the approach taken, which were developed after eight meetings with NZ Pork.

While the SPCA helps enforce the Animal Welfare Act - and despite asking for updates on the changes - it was blindsided by the changes.

Speaking at the select committee on Wednesday, it called for farmers to be supported to move away from using farrowing crates.

Farmers argue the crates - despite some scientific evidence suggesting otherwise - led to fewer piglet deaths and changing to a different system would be costly.

SPCA's response

SPCA chief scientific officer Arnja Dale said the bill should not exist and signalled "serious failings in how animal welfare regulation are being developed in New Zealand".

The MPI summary of the science the bill was based on was out of date, and the bill contradicted the findings of the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC) - which had been set up specifically as an independent advisor, she said.

"SPCA is not anti-farming, we want a sustainable and thriving domestic pig farming industry that is future-proofed... this bill claims to raise welfare standards, but in reality it is enshrining the status quo for 10 years and then locking in standards that would otherwise be unlawful."

Her colleague Marie McAninch also confirmed that the SPCA was not included in the targeted consultation on the changes - a shift from the norm - despite the SPCA also being required to help enforce the Animal Welfare Act.

"This is not a system acting with integrity, transparency or respect for the Animal Welfare Act."

Dr Dale said it was unclear why requirements to provide nesting materials were being delayed 10 years, and a study relied on to justify the continued use of farrowing crates was being misinterpreted.

"In short, the authors conclude that piglet mortality depends more on design and management than the [farrowing crate] system itself, and let's be clear, every single system for sows that farrow result in piglet deaths."

She said the way to ensure fewer piglet deaths was to ensure piglets had space, that sows had nursing material, and staff had appropriate training.

She also called for an immediate ban on new farrowing systems being brought in, support for farmers to transition towards crate-free farrowing systems, and a ban on imports that did not meet domestic welfare requirements.

Dr Dale later confirmed to RNZ that although she regularly met with Minister Andrew Hoggard on a range of matters, she had finally secured a meeting with him on the pig welfare bill for the coming Monday.

"It was me asking the minister's office and the minister what was happening with pigs repeatedly, and not getting a straight answer... I do meet with the minister on a semi-regular basis... unfortunately for the pigs, no answer in the slightest.

"We knew something was going to happen because we knew the 18th of December was looming very fast, but certainly not this bill and certainly not how it's transpired."

NZ Pork's response

NZ Pork's chief executive Brent Kleiss said that under current rules sows spent about 80 percent of their time outside confinement, and under the proposed bill that would increase to 97 percent.

"New Zealand pork actually supports an end to the conventional faring crate. We do support, however, the use of temporary confinement."

He said no country in the world had entirely banned farrowing crates, and even the proposals in the bill would represent "the most significant change in our sector for more than a generation".

NZ Pork supported the bill, and said it would give farmers the certainty and time they needed to make the changes responsibly - but also called for additional research funding, and equal welfare standards for imported meat.

Kleiss pushed back on the suggestion the minister Andrew Hoggard had done exactly what NZ Pork had asked for, saying the increased size requirement for growing pig pens was not what they wanted, but "something we can accept".

The group's animal welfare scientist Kirsty Chidgey said nesting was important for pig welfare, but it was difficult to tell when a sow would stop building a nest and farrow - and piglets were more likely to die if the sow was unconfined.

"Seventy percent of all of the piglets that die will do so in those first three to four days," she said.

NZ animal welfare scientists

Dr Kate Littin spoke on behalf of a group of animal welfare scientists, and pushed back on suggestions the crates provided a good trade-off between sow and piglet safety.

She said they were not farmers, but worked primarily on farms, and the science showed farrowing crates were associated with more stillbirths and deprived piglets of interactions with their mothers, and compromised the animals' health.

"It's essentially artificial and simplistic... there are farrowing systems that meet the welfare needs of sows and piglets."

She said they recommended promoting cage-free farrowing, but recognised there could be a need for temporary confinement during a transition period, but no more than four days post farrowing.

Pen size should also be increased, she said, regardless of whether farrowing crates were used or not.

Veterinarians for Animal Welfare Aotearoa

Dr Helen Beattie said the legislative process was "irregular, it's alarming and frankly it's indictment on the MPs who are prepared to support this".

She pushed back against some of the questioning of other submitters from ACT's Mark Cameron over whether emotion was winning out over science: "I think there is a lot of emotion, and I think that's because farmers are terrified, really worried and uncertain".

While there was science supporting each side, "what we need to think about is the precautionary principle and sentient animals and the idea that actually, if there's any doubt, precautionary principle should take precedent".

She said the group of animal welfare scientists had skills and knowledge in the area like none other in New Zealand, and the bill itself "speaks to a complete and utter lack of long-term vision".

Dr Beattie said a stop-gap measure was needed because of the looming December deadline, but "this is not the right way to do it" and farmers should be supported to transition away from farrowing crates.

"We should do nothing other than put a stop gap measure in for a short period of time, and then work with industry to create a healthier, better farm system."

She said the approach the government was taking would require farmers to invest over the next 10 years in new farrowing crates which would likely be banned before that decade was up.

Offaly Farms

Sean Molloy from Offaly Farms Ltd said he was a second-generation pig farmer from outside Christchurch who used farrowing crates as part of their indoor farming system.

"I'm passionate about the welfare of the animals and I want to see the sow and the piglet thrive, but there's some compromises there.

"So if we put them into a crate, sows got to compromise a little bit. If we leave them in the loose then the piglets are going to compromise a lot and some of them are going to lose their lives."

He said they would not be able to remodel the farrowing building they had, it would need to be rebuilt. They would need cooling pads to keep the pigs cool, and the proposed space allowances for growing pigs would cost $1500 per square metre.

"We run large social pens, so somewhere between 50 to 100 pigs per pen and we're on fully slatted plastic floors - so all of that dung falls through and the information that we see on that is we don't need as much space.

"For us, it's about 250 square meters and about $400,000, so as well as doing the farrowing, we're going to have to do this as well."

He claimed the science showing farrowing crates did not increase piglet survival rates was "simply not true".

"That's why we went indoors... in your deep litter systems, you can't always account for the piglets that are missing too, because they get lost in the straw.

"Anybody that works with pigs know - you just intuitively know that this is better because you've seen it, you live it every day."

HUHA

The Helping You Help Animals charity's founder Carolyn Press-McKenzie said she had worked with pigs for 30 years, and had seen intensive piggeries where suffering was "normalised".

She argued no good would come from the bill, and the problem of piglet mortality was not a problem when the pigs had enough space.

"It's really not hard to manage if you give an animal space for the piglets to move away - so just having a simple barrier.

"The Solomon Islands had it right - they had quite large pens with a divider. Piglets could zoom in and out, and the mums had an area where they could nest and they could move around. It's not rocket science."

Animal Welfare Law Association

Animal Welfare Law Association president Marcelo Rodriguez Ferrere said there was no good justification for departing from the current law, the bill had not followed good lawmaking processes, and would fundamentally undermine the Animal Welfare Act.

"Three years ago, NAWAC (National Animal Welfare Advisory Council) undertook an extensive consultation process involving 4500 detailed submissions, plenty of meetings, lots of good animal welfare science and lots of investigation... that is all now being erased and erased for no good reason whatsoever, beyond industry pressure that has occurred in the last three years."

Questioned about why he felt the select committee was not best placed to scrutinise the bill, Dr Ferrere said while three of the MPs were farmers "you are not animal welfare scientists".

He said NAWAC had been set up to make judgements on the best approach to take and advised the government to adopt crate-free farrowing regulations.

He said he was concerned about the influence of the pork industry.

"It's astonishing that this essentially is a cut and paste job... it is not a conspiracy theory to suggest that but [if it weren't] for the New Zealand Pork's pressure here we wouldn't be here today and that's a deep problem with the regulatory system."

SAFE charity

SAFE's (Save Animals From Exploitation) Emma Brodie and Debra Ashton pointed to a survey by Verian showing about three quarters of New Zealanders opposed the use of farrowing crates, and 46 percent said they would be more likely to vote for a party pledging a ban.

Appealing to the National Party, they said the bill lacked a public mandate, was bad policy and bad politics - and the problem farrowing crates aimed to solve was only a problem because pigs were being bred be large, and have large litters.

Aotearoa Veterinarians Union

Dr Júlia Pásztor said the AVU wanted to note the industry had five years to consult after the initial ban on farrowing crates was first passed through Parliament, and more than half of New Zealand pig farmers not using farrowing showed it was not necessary.

She urged the committee to consider requiring labelling so New Zealanders concerned about farrowing could vote with their money, and the pig farmers continuing to use farrowing could give other New Zealand farmers a bad name internationally.

"This bill was put into the public view roughly two weeks before submission closed and only seven days were given for public submission. This is unprecedented and hardly a democratic interval for people to provide considered and researched feedback on a topic that has already been deemed illegal five years ago.

"Most, if not all of us here today, were also notified with less than 24 hours of the timing of our oral submissions - which makes planning to be present for this important process nigh impossible, although we are here."

She said the coalition government was prioritising profit over the welfare of intelligent animals and the reputation of the country's agriculture.

"This comes across as arrogant, lacking empathy and seemingly lacking understanding of the New Zealand brand that the rest of the meat producers in this country work hard to protect.

"What is the point of this submission process... especially if submissions will only be ignored."

SunPork

SunPork's chief executive Robert van Barneveld led the Australian company's submission, saying they had about 55,000 sows in Australia which was roughly double the total New Zealand industry.

They were moving away from using farrowing crates, but supported the legislation.

"We're setting our own welfare standards and we're trying to make sure that we always operate at the highest level, and pretty much want to stay ahead of the game at all times."

Under questioning from Green MP Steve Abel, the company confirmed it wanted to roll out a "maternity ring" it had developed for use in its farms, which cost about the same as a farrowing crate.

"We're not claiming that our solution is the only solution. There'll be many others, but when we've done our own research and we see a benefit and we think it's something that's commercially viable, we're making that free to everybody who wants to purchase one through a third party.

"And we've set it up so that it doesn't require 30 percent more space and a heap of nursing sows."

Animal Justice Party

Danette Wereta from the Animal Justice Party, which unsuccessfully contested the last election, argued economic inconvenience was not a defence for cruelty.

"The Animal Welfare Act certainly does not contain a clause that says 'unless it's expensive'."

Wereta said pigs were intelligent creatures - even able to play computer games - and sows naturally built nests for their piglets. She argued the bill would cost the country.

"Countries that banned cages have seen stronger litters, lower mortality and healthier mothers. Stress free pigs eat better, recover faster and nurture better and when pigs thrive, farmers thrive.

"Welfare is not the enemy of productivity. It is the foundation of it."

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