Tasmania could lead the way, or: banning sow stalls

I received the following email from Animals Australia. My response is below, and I urge you to do the same. This is an ooprtunity for one state to forge ahead in making positive changes to the welfare of pigs - someone must be first. 

Dear Rachel,

I'm writing to you today to share with you some wonderfully hopeful news, and also to ask for a small favour on behalf of thousands of needy animals.

Your critical support of our campaign to end factory farming has helped create the groundswell that has made it possible for the first Australian state government to consider a legislative ban on the use of sow stalls.

As you may know, the 'sow stall' represents one of the cruellest practices ever inflicted on pigs in Australia. Already banned in the U.K. and in parts of Europe, these cruel concrete and metal crates imprison mother pigs so severely that they cannot even turn around. Here in Australia, laws currently permit pregnant sows to be left in this debilitating state for months at a time.

In an incredibly positive move, Tasmania’s Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (AWAC) recently recommended that Tasmania become the first state to ban the use of sow stalls on the basis of unacceptable cruelty. The decision to accept the recommendation now rests with one man: Primary Industries Minister Bryan Green.

The pig industry is hard at work lobbying Minister Green to ignore science that clearly reveals how pigs suffer physically and emotionally inside stalls. They would rather continue the practice of confining pigs in stalls indefinitely. So who will speak up for the pigs?

Animals Australia in collaboration with Tasmanian-based member society Brightside Farm Sanctuary have responded in force by placing a series of 18 high-impact ads across three state-wide newspapers that will bring the Tasmanian Primary Industries Minister face to face with the very animals he has the opportunity to help. You can view the ads here.

Right now it is critical that Minister Green be reminded that all caring Australians are appalled by animal cruelty and will enthusiastically support a ban on cruel sow stalls — which brings me to that favour I wanted to ask you...

You can help us bring about this important outcome by sending a personal e-mail to Minister Green to urge him to accept AWAC's recommendation to ban sow stalls in Tasmania. Your message need only be a few short lines. His address is: bryan.green@parliament.tas.gov.au

Thank you dearly for your ongoing support. A few minutes of your time today could help end a lifetime of suffering for animals.

For the pigs, 

Lyn White

Dear Minister,

I write to urge you to accept the recommendation of Tasmania's Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (AWAC) that Tasmania ban the use of sow stalls on the basis of unacceptable cruelty.

The United Kingdom and Europe have also recognised that the confinement of pregnant sows in a conrete and metal crate for months at a time without room to turn around constitutes severe cruelty.

It is scientifically well established that pigs are animals with significant levels of intelligence and emotion, much the same as that of a dog. Their technical classification as farm animals is insufficient justification to allow treatment of them that we would not accept if applied to domestic animals and our pets. 

The pig industry will attempt to reduce the severity of suffering experienced by sows, and present economic arguments to continue current practices. I strongly urge you to consider instead the moral imperative that each of us bears to uphold acceptable standards of welfare for animals under our care. 

I hope very much that Tasmania will lead the nation in banning this unecessary, cruel and inhumane practice.

Yours faithfully,

Miss T