Animal Welfare: New Zealand Bans Individual Metal Stalls for Sows

December 3, 2015, is an important date for New Zealand pigs. Today marks the day the ban on crates used for breeding sows goes into effect in New Zealand, following a five-year phase-in period. From now on, sows will be housed in group pens immediately after mating. This victory is thanks to the Safe for Animals organization, which has been leading an intensive campaign for this change since 2009.   The culmination of this campaign for the welfare of pregnant sows was the broadcast, on the popular television show “Sunday,” of a hidden-camera video exposing the reality of industrial pig farming in the country. These shocking images sparked a wave of protests. Accustomed to seeing cows and sheep grazing freely in pastures and on mountainsides, the public discovered on this occasion that pigs were raised indoors, that sows were confined to narrow crates for their entire lives and subjected to animal abuse, that piglets were castrated without anaesthetic, that their tails were docked while they were still alive, and so on. This suffering of farm pigs traumatized the public, and under public pressure, the New Zealand government adopted a new Animal Welfare Code in 2010, announcing, among other things, a gradual phase-out of gestation crates over five years. This has now been fully implemented. During the transition period, pig farmers gradually reduced or even stopped using crates for sows. Their products are identified by the “100% New Zealand Pig Care Accredited Label,” which assures consumers that the pork they purchase was raised in New Zealand in accordance with the new code. To ensure the integrity of the label, farmers must also have their operations audited. And that’s not all: to regain the trust of their fellow citizens, they have regularly communicated that their animals are raised without the preventive use of antibiotics and without growth hormones, both of which are banned under the new code. The code also prohibits the mechanical castration of piglets. New Zealand thus joins the United Kingdom, where gestation crates have been completely banned since 1999. This ban has been only partial in all European Union member states since January 1, 2013: farmers with more than ten sows may still use individual stalls during the first month and the last week of gestation. Five weeks too many?