Aussies, this Canberra Times disturbing cover story present a great opportunity for letters to the editor. The Canberra Time takes letters at http://tinyurl.com/cl8hp
Canberra Times
April 16, 2007 Monday
WHAT NOW FOR BATTERY HENS?
COVER STORY
The Presence of a battery-egg production farm in north Canberra has attracted controversy for well over a decade.
Parkwood Eggs at west Belconnen was ''raided'' by Animal Liberation in 1995, and 14 activists chained themselves to the battery cages. Four were arrested including actress Lynda Stoner. During the ensuing court case, the magistrate did not uphold the charges stating it was ''impossible not to be overwhelmed by the evidence presented (that) producing eggs by means of battery farming hens is inherently cruel to the hens'' and Parkwood Eggs ''were no exception'' to this finding.
Now, a new controversy appears to brewing after a group of residents contacted The Canberra Times to voice concerns over treatment of the 250,000 hens housed at Parkwood. They claim a brief glimpse of a fox alerted them to several emptied battery- hen sheds at Parkwood last week. Taking an evening walk on land bordering the egg production complex, they noticed shed doors were open. They also heard noises that suggested there might be hens inside the open sheds.
What they did next after much discussion and angst over ethics, trespass and moral responsibility wasn't legal but was motivated by concerns over animal welfare. They decided to take a quick look into the sheds to allay fears about foxes getting in and killing hens.
What they claim to have discovered was described to The Canberra Times by members of the group as ''the stuff of nightmares.'' They claim to have found dead hens littered across the shed floors. They also say they saw dozens of hens some with feet so thickly encrusted with manure they could barely walk in manure pits below the emptied cages.
In a shed lined with empty cages, they claim they discovered a lone hen, still locked in a cage, with a crudely lettered sign reading ''Mental case do not remove.'' Members of the group say they were so appalled by the condition of the hens and the stench from the manure pits they decided to ''rescue'' them. They claim they returned with face masks, cartons, pillow cases and a video camera to film conditions in which they found the hens. Pace Farms, the company that owns Parkwood Eggs did not return calls last week from The Canberra Times, requesting comment or clarification on whether the sheds had been routinely ''de-populated'' (cleared of hens, which are sent to slaughter at a poultry abattoir) or if plans were underway to build new cages to comply with new laws to take effect in January 2008. Last Friday, prior to the reshuffle of ACT Government portfolios, a spokeswoman for ACT environment and animal welfare minister John Hargreaves said government inspectors had visite
d Parkwood Eggs last week ''as part of their routine visits.'' She said the inspections had found Parkwood to be operating within laws governing animal welfare as well as environmental laws and guidelines. ''The issues raised by The Canberra Times have not been reported to the government. The government has contacted Parkwood and has found no basis for these allegations,'' she said.
But senior government sources later told The Canberra Times the ACT Government has held several recent discussions with Parkwood Eggs over plans to acquire the land for future urban development, and a compensation package is being negotiated. Parkwood is required to replace its battery cages by January 1, 2008 to meet national standards on minimum cage sizes agreed in 2000 by state, territory and federal governments. Michael Linke, the RSPCA's ACT chief executive, said the organisation would investigate claims that hens had been abandoned and left vulnerable to attack by predators at the Parkwood sheds.
''The RSPCA is fundamentally opposed to hens living in cages and to have Parkwood closed down would be a positive step forward for animal welfare in Canberra.'' A law introduced by the ACT Greens to ban production and sale of battery eggs in the ACT was passed in 1997, but the ban required state agreement to be enacted. Following a Productivity Commission report assessing the economic implications of the ban, the agreement was not given. Linke says battery hens ''live in diabolical conditions'' in wire mesh cages only 40cm high with a floor area per bird of 450cm square ''about three-quarters of the size of an A4 piece of paper.'' The cages do not allow the hens to stand properly, preen their feathers, stretch out or flap their wings. ''Battery hens cannot perch, cannot roost, cannot dustbathe, cannot forage for food, cannot satisfy their urge to lay their eggs in a nest,'' Linke says.
''Preventing hens from performing these natural behaviours causes immense frustration. The restricted movement and lack of exercise in battery cages also causes skeletal and muscle weakness, and the cages' mesh floors and lack of perches can cause serious muscle damage. In short, the scientific evidence indicates that battery hens suffer intensely and continuously throughout their confinement in cages.'' Recent reports by the United Nations and the British-based global group Advocates for Animals have raised doubts about the environmental and health risks of intensive poultry farms.
A report, ''Livestock's Long Shadow'' by the FAO, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, estimates poultry processing is a massive consumer of water, with water use estimated at 1590 litres per bird, making it far more water-intensive that red meat processing. In poultry processing plants, water is used to wash and clean carcasses, including ''hot water scalding of birds prior to defeathering, in water flumes for transporting feathers, heads, feet and viscera and for chilling birds,'' the report says.
The FAO report also says intensive poultry operations in China, Vietnam and Thailand are ''emerging as a major source of nutrient pollution of the South China Sea.'' It also estimates that 25 million tonnes of ocean-caught fish are used each year to manufacture fishmeal for livestock feed 24 per cent of this global catch is used for poultry feed in factory farming operations.
A report issued earlier this month by Advocates for Animals explores a potential link between avian influenza and factory farming of poultry. It claims intensively farmed poultry are ''inevitably in unnaturally close contact with their own wastes'' and if infection enters a shed ''it will spread rapidly and the levels of circulating virus will be greatly increased.'' The report claims the avian influenza virus H5N1 is transmitted from the faeces of infected birds and says a recent FAO study stated ''poultry production and commerce have played the largest role in the spread of the disease.'' A study in the medical journal, The Lancet also suggests ''large concentrations of (presumably stressed) birds have facilitated an increased affinity of the virus to chickens, and an increase in pathogenicity.'' Meanwhile, there are concerns that battery-egg production in west Belconnen and in close proximity to the new suburb of West Macgregor could undermine the ACT Government's plans to
nominate the ACT as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. A submission from Parkwood Eggs to the ACT government's planning and environment committee says the egg factory has ''no objection in principle'' to the proposed nomination, subject to the listing ''not having an effect on the ongoing use and operation of our farm''. The submission says Pace Farm, the company that operates Parkwood Eggs, has ''invested considerable time, expertise and money'' into the business and ''would need this investment to be protected.'' But battery-egg production is likely to be at odds with UN criteria requiring nominations to prove a commitment to sustainable land use and ecosystem management. Meanwhile, the chooks ''rescued'' last week are adjusting to a new life over the border. Their rescue squad, who joke about calling themselves The Other Canberra Raiders, say they have one regret it takes around four hours per chook (aided by warm soapy foot baths and soothing classical music) to gently pick the rock-hard accretions of manure off their feet.
''It's stinky messy work, but worth it when you see chooks being able to walk rather than hobble across the grass,'' said one of the raiders.
(End of Canberra Times article)
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Date: Mon Apr 16 20:42:40 2007
