Saturday, May 10, 2008
Media release: New Zealand Open Rescue

Mother’s Day rescue, piglets saved from horror

New Zealand Open Rescue has conducted an undercover investigation into an intensive piggery in Auckland, uncovering gruesome evidence and rescuing two female piglets.

“Our investigation revealed death, cannibalism and immense suffering,” says New Zealand Open Rescue spokesperson Deirdre Sims.

“We witnessed sows in farrowing crates anguished in extreme confinement. These mother pigs were unable to walk or turn around, let alone able to interact with their babies. Our team also documented many dead piglets, one of which had been severely cannibalized.

“We rescued two female piglets from this horror, placing them into a wonderful new home. We did this so that these young females will never have to endure the suffering and deprivation that their mothers experience.

“This Mother’s Day weekend, we urge the New Zealand public to spare a thought for sows imprisoned on intensive piggeries across the country. Boycott pork and help bring an end to this cruelty”, says Ms. Sims.

New Zealand Open Rescue has released a documentary of their investigation. Team members will be outside St. Kevin’s Arcade on K. Road in Auckland today at 11:30am handing out free copies of the DVD.

NOTES

New Zealandpig farming facts
• 29 per cent of New Zealand pig farmers use sow stalls.
• Sow stalls are banned in the United Kingdom and Sweden and will be soon phased out in Finland, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Denmark.
• 67 per cent of New Zealand pig farmers use farrowing crates.
• Sweden and Switzerland have banned the farrowing crate.
• Outdoors, pregnant sows construct a private nest apart from the group, in which to give birth to, and suckle, their babies.
• Piglets are removed from their mothers at four weeks old to be fattened for slaughter.
• Around 800,000 pigs are farmed and killed each year in New Zealand.

New ZealandOpen Rescue
New Zealand Open Rescue formed in 2006 after New Zealand animal advocates became immensely frustrated with the Government's lack of real action for animals on factory farms. 20 years of campaigning against factory farming using legal means such as protesting and lobbying saw little to no changes for animals. New Zealand Open Rescue’s aims are to openly rescue animals from places of abuse, to expose hidden suffering and to consistently provide irrefutable evidence why factory farming should be banned.

The piggery investigation documentary (6 minutes) can be viewed here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwBNpHpc-ck

ENDS

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