Live Export Issues in Australia

Author: Dr Stephanie Hing, Animal Welfare Policy and Research Manager, RSPCA Western Australia and CAWSEL 2017 attendee

 

At CAWSEL 2017, we learnt about welfare concepts and assessment, ethics and livestock welfare and these are all very relevant to the current live export issues in Australia.

Live export is a live issue at the moment. Every year, millions of livestock are exported from Australia overseas including to the Middle East. Animal welfare concerns have long been held about conditions during the journeys and the treatment of animals in destination countries. The issues recently came to a head when disturbing footage taken by a whistle-blower aboard a live export vessel was aired on Australian television in April 2018. The footage showed sheep suffering unbearably and dying from heat stress on several voyages from the Australian winter to the Middle Eastern summer. On one voyage alone, over 4000 sheep died from heat stress. Australia as a nation recoiled in horror.

At the time of writing, the live export company in question has had their export licence suspended by the Australian Department of Agriculture and criminal investigations are underway at both a state and Federal level. Leaders from all political persuasions have promised action to address the unacceptable and unnecessary suffering of animals in live export.

Might we dare to hope for a future where atrocities such as those revealed in the Australian live export industry were no longer?


Australia: Layer hens in battery cages

Author: Dr Stephanie Hing, Animal Welfare Policy and Research Manager, RSPCA Western Australia and CAWSEL 2017 attendee

 

Can we get hens out of battery cages? Conventional battery cages were phased out in the EU by 2012 so you may be shocked to learn they are still widely used in the Australian egg industry today. This is one of the major animal welfare issues Australia faces right now.

Motivation to get hens out of battery cages has only strengthened since attending CAWSEL 2017 where we discussed decades of research on the animal welfare issues associated with conventional battery cages. It was invaluable to learn directly from scientists on the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) Scientific Panel who undertook comprehensive analyses of all the issues.

In early 2018, the draft Australian Animal Welfare Standards and Guidelines for Poultry (The Standards) were released for public consultation. The Standards are supposed to outline the minimum requirements for the management of poultry going forward. Shockingly, the draft Standards still allowed hens to be kept in cramped barren cages. There were even allegations that the egg industry had colluded with the government to keep conventional battery cages.

Australian animal welfare organisations, scientists, some state governments and the majority of the general public recognised that overwhelming evidence indicates conventional battery cages pose unacceptable animal welfare risks. An unprecedented number (>165,000) of submissions were made to the public consultation on the Standards. We are now awaiting the outcome.

Will hens in Australia still be kept in conventional battery cages for years to come? Or will they be freed from extreme confinement?