No one held accountable for cruelty to 800 pigs

SAFE and Farmwatch are appalled that the same Waikato piggery found to have been housing starving and injured pigs in 2014 was allowed to continue operating.

In 2014, at Waikato piggery Kaimai Pork Limited, piglets were found living in their own excrement, without enough food and without adequate care for injuries sustained at the piggery. MPI inspected the farm and laid charges in December of that year, but allowed the farm to continue to operate.

That same farm was investigated by Farmwatch in 2015. No one has been held accountable for the original cruelty charges, due to insufficient evidence around who was responsible.

Keeping piglets or any animals in such cruel and overcrowded conditions is unacceptable.

“We have animal welfare regulations that are supposed to protect animals. People who are under investigation should be closely monitored,” says campaigns manager Marianne Macdonald.

Farmwatch spokesperson John Darroch says conditions were appalling when they investigated the farm in 2015 – after it was signed off by MPI.

“It was like something out of a horror film. Pens were overcrowded and flooded, with water dripping in. The shed was filthy with faeces all throughout the pens. There was nowhere dry or clean for the pigs to lie down.”

MPI should be doing more to ensure that farms and farmers found breaking the law are regularly checked on through unannounced inspections, or ideally are shut down completely.

It’s a huge concern that even when the piggery knew they were under investigation, they were so unconcerned, that they still continued to keep animals in terrible conditions. Even worse, they have gone completely unpunished. We should be very wary over the treatment of our animals.

Take Action

• Call on our Government to create a fully resourced Commission for Animal Welfare.