Mon, 19 Mar 2012 19:55:13 -0800WeeblyTue, 07 Feb 2012 01:33:23 -0800http://www.nzopenrescue.org.nz/1/post/2012/02/up-close-personal-a-first-encounter.htmlUp Close & Personal - A First Encounter...

By Carl Scott

In April 2011, I staged a one-person protest against battery farming, by living in a small metal cage for a month. I did this on the side of SH1 in Waikouaiti; home to NZ’s largest Battery Farm.The protest received quite a bit of media coverage, including an interview with mark Sainsbury on the Close Up show: [http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/cooped-up-make-point-4095470 ]

It’s kind of funny in a way. Here I was doing a major protest against battery farming, and yet I had never actually been inside a real battery shed and seen the caged hens for myself.

But do you really need to see something for real to understand it? I don’t think so.

When I was about 10 years old, ironically, I actually worked on a battery farm cleaning and sorting the eggs after school. I never saw the birds inside their cages in the sheds. I don’t think that was an accident. I wasn’t meant to see them. Then in my late twenties or early thirties - I don’t actually remember when - I became vaguely aware of battery farming. And so I switched to buying only free range eggs.

But I never actually understood how truly disgusting this ‘farmingmethod’ was until 2010. I knew it was not good; but I just didn’t understand how bad. I guess, like most kiwis, I thought, “If it was truly that awful, then it would be illegal.” But I can now verify from witnessing it firsthand that yes, it is that bad. And yet totally‘legal’.

Like others, I had probably seen photos of battery cages, andmaybe even seen some footage. But my eyes were finally openedto the true horror of battery farming when I stumbled across something on Facebook, called “Anonymous Memoir of a Battery Caged Chicken.” [ http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=191423834234993 ]

It described the horror so well; something that the images simply couldn’t do. And it OUTRAGED ME!!! Hell, even if it was only half as bad as that thing had described, then it was still utterlyhorrific.

To make matters even worse, was the knowledge pretty much everything I had just read about was happening just a few kilometres from where I live, at Mainland Poultry’s ‘farm’ in Waikouaiti. This was completely unacceptable to me. I simplycouldn’t allow myself to just stand by and do nothing while thousands of birds were suffering just up the road. So I resolved to take action of some sort. But what to do? It took a while, but eventually the cage protest idea was born. That’s a whole story in itself. But in April 2011 I carried out my plan, and the rest, as they say, is history.

After my cage vigil, I had the privilege of meeting some other prominent animal rights activists from NZ and elsewhere, including the wonderful team from NZ Open Rescue. I now countmany of these people as my personal friends.

The NZOR folk asked me if I wanted to join them on a rescue. Of course I jumped at the chance. I wanted to see what one of these ‘farms’ was like for myself. I needed to.

I have to admit, I was a little apprehensive. If merely reading an account of the horror had affected me so deeply on an emotional level, then how would I cope with actually seeing it for real? I wasactually quite nervous during the days leading up to the rescue. I spent a lot of time thinking about what I was going to be confronted with, and how I might react. I tried to prepare myself.

They asked how I would feel about being filmed in the shed. I agreed. If my impressions could help influence others, then I’d be glad to do it. But that meant that I felt like I was under even more pressure to ‘keep it all together’.

Perhaps the mental preparation helped. Perhaps a ‘prayer’ I said in the car on the way to the ‘farm’ helped too. But I found that when I actually got into the battery shed, I was able to cope much better than I thought I would. I had fully expected to be overwhelmed with emotion. In fact, how I reacted surprised me. I still don’tfully understand it. I can only describe it by saying that I just felt kind of ‘numb’.

It was an emotional experience, for sure. But not as intense as I’d anticipated. I was shocked. I was disgusted. But not overwhelmed. It was like some sort of switch in my brain had just clicked off, to allow me to do what I had to do. Well, perhaps not switched right off, but maybe like a dimmer switch for a light bulb. My emotions felt like they had been turned down to ‘low’ temporarily.

But my intellectual processes were firing on all cylinders. I thinkwhat affected me the most was the knowledge that every single bird I could see was suffering the torments of hell... and there were thousands of them... and that was just in that one shed alone!

And I do not believe the phrase, ‘the torments of hell’ is anexaggeration. I struggle to imagine how life could get much worse for these beautiful, innocent, animals. How can we do this to them? How can a so-called civilised society permit such barbaric cruelty to be perpetrated en-masse for so long? How have we allowed ourselves to sink to such depths?

Gandhi said, “The greatness of a nation, and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals.” If that is true - and I believe it is - then NZ can award itself an epic ‘F’ for Fail! Some people criticise China and other countries for their animal abusepractices. But I can assure you that one of the worst forms of animal cruelty ever invented, is alive and well right here in ‘Godzone’.

Yes, I believe that battery farming is truly that bad. NZ still has some of the hideous old sheds as described in “Anonymous Memoir...” But even in the more modern sheds, where the birds don’t have to live above the stench and ammonia fumes of their own excrement, their life is still horrible beyond comprehension.Would you trade places? If it were cats or dogs being kept in those conditions, let alone humans, then Kiwis everywhere would be shocked and outraged. So why do we allow birds to be treated this way?

We rescued 12 hens that night. The next day we took them to a sanctuary where they will be well looked after, and will be allowed to live out their lives in freedom and safety. Unlike their counterparts in the cages, they will not be killed aged merely 18 months. They will live long and happy lives.

It was as we opened the carry-cages and released the birds that I first felt any real emotional reaction. Tears welled up in my eyes and a lump came to my throat, as I realised that this was the first time these birds had ever seen sunlight. The first time they were able to move freely, and to breathe fresh air. The first time that they had been able to walk more than one or two steps at a time. To flap their wings. To stand fully upright on a solid surface. Some birds cowered in the corner: afraid of the unfamiliar. Some were amazed and intrigued by their new surroundings, and began exploring. I know that in time, all of them will adjust to their new life, and they will all be happy.

It felt so good to know that I had helped bring about their liberation. It felt wonderful knowing their suffering was finallyover. But at the same time, it felt heartbreaking to think of the thousands we had had to leave behind.

It is almost incomprehensible to think that there are right now,even as you read this, over 3 million hens living in those hideous cages. And that is just in NZ alone!

So please... Let’s make 2012 the year that NZ finally bans all cages. If this abhorrent practice disturbs you, then first andforemost, please stop buying cage eggs, or even products with eggs in them. If a product doesn’t specify that it uses free range eggs, then it almost certainly uses battery farmed eggs. Try to encourage your friends and family to do the same.

Also, please visit nocages.org.nz to send a message to David Carter, the minister of Agriculture, that we want to see an end to cages.

Or even better than buying free range eggs, you could give up eggs altogether. In May 2010 I stopped eating eggs entirely when I became a Vegan. Becoming Vegan is the best thing I have ever done. It has transformed my life. It feels so good to be able to say at every meal, “No animal was harmed in the making of this food.”

If you’re not already Vegan, then I’d recommend you give it a try - even if just for one month. Even if you go back to being omnivore or vegetarian at the end, you will never quite look at food the same again. And being Vegan is way easier than what most people think. WAY easier. It feels good to do the right thing. Way better than any fleeting moment of pleasure from a mouthful of animal-based food could ever feel.

I am grateful to the team from NZ Open Rescue for giving me theopportunity to ‘see it for myself’. Even more grateful for the opportunity to rescue some birds. I have actually visited a couple more battery sheds since then - including one of the unbearable ‘old style’ farms, where the birds live above their own excrement.That place is almost indescribable.
And so as long as any chickens are being kept in cages, then it is my intention to keep working to bring this practice to an end. It must not be allowed to continue.

“Till every cage is empty!”

Carl.


]]>Sun, 03 Apr 2011 21:06:49 -0800http://www.nzopenrescue.org.nz/1/post/2011/04/indys-story.html Recently New Zealand Open Rescue visited a West Auckland battery egg farm to see what happens to ‘end of lay’ hens. ‘End of lay’ is an industry term for hens at the end of their ‘productive’ life (around 18 months old). When a hen’s egg production drops below a certain point, they are deemed as no longer economically viable by the industry. They are then culled and are commonly used as petfood or chicken stock

That day we came away with several ‘end of lay’ hens, one of which was Indy. Indy was very sick and was literally dying in front of our eyes. We raced to her new home where she received immediate emergency treatment and began her long-term rehabilitation process.

Indy initially made a spectacular recovery, enjoying sunshine, fresh air and green grass for the first time in her life. Sadly Indy passed away after several weeks in her new home. We feel heartened to know that she at least had several weeks of sunshine, clean air, fresh grass, love and freedom.

Indy is a single example of an individual used and abused by the egg industry. There are 3 million other victims suffering in cages right at this very moment. The egg industry is without compassion – it is only through people power that change will happen for these animals. That means YOU! Boycott the egg industry and say NO to cages at www.nocages.org.nz

]]>Sun, 03 Apr 2011 01:36:51 -0800http://www.nzopenrescue.org.nz/1/post/2011/04/activists-must-break-law-to-expose-cruelty-and-save-lives.htmlA month ago they chained themselves to the top of silos at a battery hen farm to draw attention to the plight of battery hens. Today they are nursing rescued battery hens they took during a daring rescue last night. 

Last night Deirdre Sims and Marie Brittain illegally entered a Waikato battery farm rescuing several hens and documenting appalling, but typical, industry conditions.

Ms Sims explains, “The public don't get to see what goes on inside factory farms. Breaking the law and risking arrest is the only way we can expose the cruelty that these industries go to great lengths to conceal.”

The action was taken in support of 'Person in a Cage' Carl Scott who is currently living in a cage for one month and calling for the public to make submissions to the government to ban battery cages.

“During our rescue last night we found a hen which had become trapped underneath the feed tray. She is very weak and thin, indicating she had been trapped for days unable to reach food or water. In a shed containing approximately 20, 000 hens, its not surprising that a single hen could remain trapped without farm workers noticing. She is unable to stand and it is unclear at this stage if she will be crippled for life.”

“Both Marie and I have been inside battery hen farms countless times. But time and again we are shocked and saddened by what we see. The suffering of these animals is unimaginable and unacceptable.”

“The egg industry is proposing to replace standard battery cages with so-called 'colony' cages. But for a battery hen, a cage is still a cage. Three millions hens can't walk properly, run or stretch their wings. Its not a normal life for a chicken and cages need to be banned immediately,” concludes Ms Sims.

Sims and Brittain are calling for the government to listen to calls from the public to ban all cages for layer hens including the proposed colony cage systems. The Code of Welfare for Layer Hens is open for public submissions until 29 April.
]]>Mon, 28 Feb 2011 00:29:31 -0800http://www.nzopenrescue.org.nz/1/post/2011/02/report-on-battery-hen-lock-on-action.htmlFrom Animal Freedom Aotearoa's website www.animalfreedom.org.nz

It was before first light on Sunday 20th February. After careful planning the Coalition to End Factory Farming (New Zealand Open Rescue, Animal Freedom Aotearoa and the Wellington Animal Rights Network) set off for a battery hen farm in Tuakau. Around 6am Coalition members, corporate media and our own team of camera toting documenters converged at the entrance to the factory farm.

By around 6:35am two well prepared protesters from the Coalition were atop two 7 metre high feed silos, holding up banners that read 'ban cages', and 'battery hens suffer' to highlight the plight of the birds in the sheds below. Another larger banner was attached high to the front of the silos. The sickening stench of the farm permeated our nostrils in waves.

As the day progressed more caring people came to join us in opposition to Factory Farming. Tasty vegan foods kept us well sustained and in good cheer.The Tuakau farm is situated on a high traffic rural road and we recieved an overwhelmingly positive response from countless motorists, many stopped to express their disgust with the cruel ways the hens are kept and factory farming in general, showing a keen awareness of many issues.Locals joined us, taking up placards and banners. Some local children even baked us biscuits to help keep up energy levels, amazing!

Overall, we received a lot of media coverage from a broad section of corporate media, as well as our own media who were uploading images and messages from the demo throughout the day, we received a lot of positive feedback and some people even responded directly by coming out and joining the protest.

Coalition media spokespeople appeared on television news shows making clear, well backed arguments in favour of abolishing factory farming and when possible against farming in general. 

There was a fluctuating number of police throughout the day with little impact on our activities other than trespassing protesters from the farm.

Overall we had a strong presence and a good turn out. We wish to say a big thanks to all who got involved! 
]]>Wed, 23 Feb 2011 01:41:12 -0800http://www.nzopenrescue.org.nz/1/post/2011/02/activists-chain-themselves-to-battery-hen-farm.htmlActivists from Coalition to End Factory Farming (New Zealand Open Rescue, Animal Freedom Aoteaora and the Wellington Animal Rights Network) occupied a battery hen farm in Tuakau recently. Deirdre Sims and Marie Brittain chained themselves to seven-metre high silos on the farm. Sims and Brittain undertook the action to draw attention to the cruelty inherent of factory farming.

Dozens of supporters holding banners, placards and chicken costumes were outside the farm. Sims and Brittain were prepared to stay in their position occupying the factory farm overnight but came down voluntarily after police agreed not to arrest them.

Ms Sims said, “Over the past year we have been involved in investigating many battery hen farms the across the country. What we've seen is both shocking and sadly typical of factory farms in New Zealand.”

“It is heartbreaking to see inside these sheds. You see row upon row of caged hens that are treated as nothing more than egg producing machines, unable to carry out the most basic natural behaviours such as wing stretching and walking.”

88 per cent of the 3 million layer hens in New Zealand are kept confined and suffering in cruel cages.

“Our action was not aimed at any particular farm but at the egg industry which is inherently cruel and a government which refuses to act,” says Ms Sims.

Coalition to End Factory Farming believes the new draft Code of Welfare for Layer Hens is appallingly inadequate as hens will still be confined in cages for many decades to come.

“The egg industry is proposing to introduce colony cages as a replacement for existing battery cages. But colony cages still breach welfare legislation as they do not allow hens to express their normal behaviour. A cage is a cage no matter how the Egg Producers Federation tries to spin it.”

In 2006 Parliament’s Regulations Review Committee ruled that battery cages were in breach of the Animal Welfare Act 1999.

“This means that we have illegal systems in place sanctioned by our government, purely so that these industries can continue to make a profit - this is completely unacceptable,” says Ms Sims.

“A Colmar Brunton poll showed that around 80 per cent of New Zealander's think battery cages are cruel. The public want change and, in an election year, it would pay for the government to listen.

“Until factory farming practices cease to exist, we will continue to expose animal cruelty and carry out non-violent civil disobedience actions," concludes Ms Sims.

]]>Tue, 25 Jan 2011 00:23:21 -0800http://www.nzopenrescue.org.nz/1/post/2011/01/more-cruelty-exposed-in-recent-pig-farm-investigation.htmlNew Zealand Open Rescue recently investigated a North Island intensive piggery where we documented disgusting conditions inside farrowing and fattening buildings. Sadly these conditions are nothing out of the ordinary - in fact they are the norm. The problem is not with isolated farms but with systems that treat animals as units of production - animal machines.  

Piglets in the fattening rooms were filthy and covered in flies. They were confined to pens in decrepit rooms inside a building that looked like it should be condemned.  

The sows confined to farrowing crates were clearly suffering. They all looked like they'd lost the will to live and were merely existing. They too were covered in flies and many had contact wounds on their backs from where they constantly rubbed against the crate bars confining them. Again they were imprisoned in a series of rooms that could only be described as miserable. Years worth of cobwebs and filth hung from the ceilings.  

We spent two hours inside this farm and felt a heavy sense of years and years worth of suffering and misery as we walked from room to room documenting everything.  

While it is a victory that sow stalls will be banned in five years, absolutely nothing has been done about farrowing crates which are just as cruel. The photographs of sows in crates from this investigation speak for themselves. The suffering of the sows is apparent in their eyes. To look at them up close and in the flesh, we felt it was like they'd given up all hope, felt no joy and knew they never would.  

Its up to the public of New Zealand to make real change for animals imprisoned on factory farms across our country. It was the public that forced a ban on sow stalls and it will be the public that sees an end to all factory farming. Its time for the people of New Zealand to say enough is enough! People power is the only thing that will force these cruel industries to change!  

Join us at the March to End Factory Farming, 5 March 2011, Wellington www.endfactoryfarming.org.nz]]>Thu, 19 Aug 2010 02:12:17 -0800http://www.nzopenrescue.org.nz/1/post/2010/08/john-darroch-defends-non-violent-civil-disobedience-for-pigs.htmlToday I appeared in the Hamilton District Court as a result of a protest earlier this year. A few months ago I locked myself to a silo on a pig farm to draw attention to cruel nature of pig farming. I was hoping that through actions like mine we would see a phase out of the factory farming of pigs through the new Code of Welfare for Pigs. The protest which received national media attention ended with the police cutting me from the silo and charging me with Trespass. As a result today I and around ten supporters travelled to Hamilton for my court case and to hold an awareness raising protest outside the court.

Before court started we held an hour long picket, displaying photos taken recently inside pig farms and holding a banner reading “Factory Farmed Pigs Suffer”. We received a lot of support from passers by with many stopping and talking to us about what we were doing. Several people going into the court mentioned they had worked on pig farms, of these most supported our protest. We later heard our protest was the talk of the court with many lawyers highly interested in who we were and what we were doing.

At ten am we headed into court for what was supposed to be my trial. We quickly found out that far too many cases had been booked for our court room and after a considerable delay my trial was postponed. This was a considerable disappointment and an inconvenience for my supporters, family and wonderful lawyer who had all travelled for the trial. After some negotiation we managed to get another date on September the 10th in the Hamilton District court. Once again supporters are welcome to attend on this date.

While I am proud of my action I am deeply saddened that little progress has been made over the past few months. Over the past 18 months there has been widespread consumer opposition and disgust at current pig farming practices. Despite this the final draft Code of Welfare for Pigs before Agriculture Minister David Carter in October looks like it will do little for the pigs suffering and dying in farms across New Zealand. Open Rescue and groups like us will continue to work to expose conditions in these farms and rescue animals from a lifetime of misery. Regardless of the eventual outcome of this trial I am committed to taking action on behalf of these animals which cannot speak for themselves.

John Darroch

]]>Wed, 18 Aug 2010 02:54:49 -0800http://www.nzopenrescue.org.nz/1/post/2010/08/post-title-click-and-type-to-edit1.html New Zealand Open Rescue activist John Darroch, will appear in Hamilton District Court at 10am tomorrow defending charges after chaining himself to a piggery in Roto-O-Rangi near Cambridge earlier this year.  Darroch is charged with trespass and unlawfully being in a building.

Darroch chained himself to a 6-m tall silo on the Roto-O-Rangi piggery in protest against legalised cruelty within the New Zealand pork industry. Darroch was prepared to occupy the farm for up to two days and nights but was cut free by police after a day’s occupation.

The action was timed with a government review of the Code of Welfare that regulates how pigs are farmed. A Colmar Brunton Survey carried out late last year showed that 77% of New Zealanders want a ban on sow stalls and farrowing crates, yet the Pork Board has consistently refused to change cruel farming practices.

Darroch says, “A Levin piggery owned by ex-Pork Board member Colin Kay was recently exposed for the third time by New Zealand Open Rescue. This is the same farm that shocked former pork industry frontman Mike King. We couldn’t believe that despite the public outrage, conditions at this piggery were actually worse.

“We have since inspected other piggeries across the country, including a facility at Hawera, and we have found consistently horrific conditions”.

New Zealand Open Rescue would like to follow up at the Roto-O-Rangi piggery and see if conditions there have changed, however the Pork Board is working to ensure that doesn't happen.

Darroch says, “A private investigation firm was used to track down the homes and workplaces of a number of our members and serve them trespass notices to prevent them from re-entering the Roto-O-Rangi piggery. Clearly the Pork Board prefers to have their farms hidden behind closed doors.

“Our legislation is failing these animals. What will it take to change this industry? How much more legalised cruelty do we need to expose before the Pork Board and the government finally act to clean up their mess?”

Recently the Tasmanian government announced a ban on sow stalls. Australia’s largest pork producer, Riverlea, has banned the use of sow stalls and the Australian supermarket chain Coles will no longer sell pork from pigs raised in sow stalls. Open Rescue questions why the New Zealand pork industry is falling so far behind.

“The final draft Code of Welfare for Pigs will be before the Minister of Agriculture David Carter in October. We would like to see some concrete changes for pigs in the new Code but we are not hopeful. The Pork Board puts economics first and refuses to change despite public outrage.

“We will continue to expose the pork industry and carry out non-violent civil disobedience as long as our animal welfare legislation is nothing more than a regulatory facade” concludes Darroch.

]]>Sat, 07 Aug 2010 18:43:56 -0800http://www.nzopenrescue.org.nz/1/post/2010/08/free-range-egg-production-not-all-its-cracked-up-to-be.html Recently New Zealand Open Rescue inspected a free range egg production facility located in the lower North Island. This facility was a small scale commercial operation but we were shocked at what we uncovered. From the outside, the facility looked like a typical battery hen unit; ominous, industrial scale warehouse sheds with large feed silos. Inside the units, things looked quite different but the callous treatment of animals as mere units of production was exactly the same as on any other type of factory farm.

Several thousand egg laying hens were crammed inside the sheds which were sectioned in half. The hens were panicked and hysterical, terrified of humans. As we moved slowly through the crowds of hens documenting their living conditions, we noticed several of them suffered from prolapses and many had rubbed red raw skin. All the hens in this facility were de-beaked.  Free range hens are still often de-beaked as living in flocks of several thousand is highly un-natural. Hens can’t find any sort of meaningful social order in such large flocks, so fighting is constant in order to establish hierarchy.

Following our visit to this facility, we were shocked to learn that there are no regulations around how often supposed ‘free range’ hens are meant to be allowed access to the outdoors. A local in the area told us that they had seen the hens at the facility we visited outside only once in over a year!  We felt that the many people who purchase free range eggs in good faith that conditions for animals are better in this type of production system, would be shocked if they had seen what we witnessed. The idyllic scene of happy free range hens scratching in the earth and basking in the sunshine that comes to mind when people purchase free range eggs was certainly not what we experienced during our investigation at this typical free range facility.

View photographs from our investigation here

]]>Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:32:35 -0800http://www.nzopenrescue.org.nz/1/post/2010/07/scenes-of-horror-at-colin-kaye-piggery-what-will-it-take-to-shut-him-down.html15 months after New Zealand Open Rescue and former Pork Industry front man Mike King investigated Colin Kay’s Levin piggery, the Open Rescue team has inspected the farm again - only to find that, unbelievebly, the conditions for the pigs have actually worsened!

Spokesperson Deirdre Sims says, “Despite the massive public outcry following the Mike King pig farming expose, absolutely nothing has changed for these animals. The conditions we found recently at Colin Kay’s Levin pig farm were actually worse than what we witnessed with Mike King 15 months ago.

“We re-visited the very same sow stall shed that we took Mike into. As well as the legalised confinement the sows were suffering under in their tiny stalls, we also documented many sows with open, infected wounds - one of which had turned gangrenous.

“We discovered one sow with an injured ear. Her ear was massively swollen and bloody. Blood from this wound covered her face and body, the bars confining her and even the sow next to her.

“Prime Minister John Key said he found the first images from this farm 'very, very disturbing'. The fact that conditions on this farm have only gotten worse since the original expose is outrageous and appalling. Colin Kay's farm needs to be closed down immediately. It is completely unacceptable that the pigs on Kay's farm continue to suffer in these horrific conditions.

"The New Zealand public are largely compassionate people that care about the treatment and well being of animals. Open Rescue appeals to New Zealander's to use their consumer power to make change for animals confined on factory farms. Ultimately its the people of New Zealand that will force these cruel and archaic industries to change their abhorrent practices" says Ms. Sims.

New Zealand Open Rescue works to expose the cruelty behind the closed doors of intensive animal production. The organisation inspects farms across the country at random and always uncovers the same appalling cruelty. This is because the cruelty of these intensive industries is legally sanctioned, reducing our animal welfare legislation to a regulatory facade.

Our Animal Welfare Act and the Codes of Welfare offer no protection for these animals. Rather they are treated as mere production units instead of as the intelligent and sensitive creatures that they are. Factory farming must end. ]]>