History: the New Zealand Open Rescue story
After 20 years of campaigning for battery hens using legal means, New Zealand animal advocates felt a growing frustration at the lack of Government response despite the huge public outcry against battery cages. This frustration led to advocates from all over the country taking part in an action that was the first of many ‘open rescues’ where those involved openly admit responsibility for illegally entering farms to rescue animals.
Following the Minister of Agriculture Jim Anderton’s rejection of Parliament’s Regulations Review Committee’s decision that battery cages were in breach of the Animal Welfare Act 1999, New Zealand Open Rescue was formed to highlight what the Government chose to ignore. In the face of legislation that fails the welfare of animals, New Zealand Open Rescue decided to take the welfare of animals into their own hands.
The morning of Sunday 5th of November 2006 saw the dawn of New Zealand Open Rescue. Open Rescue team members entered Turk’s Poultry Farm on Purcell Street in Foxton, rescued 20 hens from cages and documented the conditions found. Team members, wearing bio-masks and suits, found many dead hens still inside cages which live hens were forced to sit and stand on. Dead hens were seen strewn across the floor and the building was thick with dust, fumes and spider webs. The action received nation-wide media coverage and put the public spotlight back onto the egg industry.
New Zealand Open Rescue team members have since been inside countless factory farms across the country. While the first investigation at Turk’s Poultry Farm was shocking, it was not an isolated incident. Factory farming is designed to reduce animals to mere units of production and is in fact legalised cruelty. Immense suffering and abuse is therefore inevitable. Public opinion has been shown to be strongly against such forms of legalised animal cruelty. The time for change is now.
Following the Minister of Agriculture Jim Anderton’s rejection of Parliament’s Regulations Review Committee’s decision that battery cages were in breach of the Animal Welfare Act 1999, New Zealand Open Rescue was formed to highlight what the Government chose to ignore. In the face of legislation that fails the welfare of animals, New Zealand Open Rescue decided to take the welfare of animals into their own hands.
The morning of Sunday 5th of November 2006 saw the dawn of New Zealand Open Rescue. Open Rescue team members entered Turk’s Poultry Farm on Purcell Street in Foxton, rescued 20 hens from cages and documented the conditions found. Team members, wearing bio-masks and suits, found many dead hens still inside cages which live hens were forced to sit and stand on. Dead hens were seen strewn across the floor and the building was thick with dust, fumes and spider webs. The action received nation-wide media coverage and put the public spotlight back onto the egg industry.
New Zealand Open Rescue team members have since been inside countless factory farms across the country. While the first investigation at Turk’s Poultry Farm was shocking, it was not an isolated incident. Factory farming is designed to reduce animals to mere units of production and is in fact legalised cruelty. Immense suffering and abuse is therefore inevitable. Public opinion has been shown to be strongly against such forms of legalised animal cruelty. The time for change is now.
