An early morning fire at an egg-laying farm in Orini, Waikato yesterday has claimed the lives of at least 50,000 hens. The farm is operated by New Zealand’s largest egg producer Zeagold, the country’s biggest egg producer, whose eggs are sold under the Woodland and Farmer Brown brands.

In 2019, SAFE stood alongside Direct Animal Action to protest the opening of the farm, citing concerns that the indoor mega farm would put the welfare of tens of thousands of birds at risk.

SAFE Head of Campaigns, Jess Chambers, said while the news came as a shock, it was not a surprise.

"This fire is another tragic reminder of the urgency for an end to all forms of intensive chicken farming."

"This isn’t the first mass tragedy we’ve seen involving animals farmed indoors with no way to escape a disaster, but it should absolutely be the last."

In 2015, 400 mother and baby pigs died when a Waikato farm went up in flames, as there was no sprinkler system in place. In 2018, 50,000 chickens were killed in a fire on a West Auckland poultry farm. In 2019, 10,000 chickens were killed in Whanagnui poultry shed fire and that same year 180,000 chickens suffocated to death due to a power failure that stopped air from flowing into the shed.

"When things go wrong in these factory farms, the blame doesn’t just lie with the farmers, it also falls on our government for allowing animals to be farmed in such conditions. Intensive indoor farming isn’t just a risk during emergency situations - it has devastating and prolonged welfare impacts on the animals involved."

While battery cages were phased out last month, highly intensive colony cages and indoor ‘barns’ remain in use. Hens confined in barns never see the light of day; the sheds are stocked to their limits with tens of thousands of birds, and severely restrict the ability for hens to display normal patterns of behaviour, which is a requirement under the Animal Welfare Act 1999.

"Without stronger animal welfare legislation, there is nothing in place to protect these sensitive, intelligent animals from the ongoing devastation that goes along side intensive indoor farming," said Chambers.

"The Government must be held accountable for failing to ensure current farming practices align with the Animal Welfare Act 1999 - factory farming is not acceptable in today’s society and this tragedy is a bitter reminder of that."

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