debeaking « A Compassionate World

Posts Tagged ‘debeaking’

Election results

Friday, May 7th, 2010

With the nation having had their say in the UK’s General Election, and a hung Parliament in prospect, we are now gearing up to engage with MPs old and new from all parties on the big farm animal welfare matters of our day.

As soon as we know who will be the new Minister responsible for agriculture and animal welfare, I will be writing to them highlighting key issues and asking for a meeting. The key points that I will be raising immediately include:

• The UK ban on the debeaking of laying hens is due to come into force on 1 January 2011. The previous Government planned to remove the ban by postponing it indefinitely. We will press the new Minister to ensure that if the ban is postponed, a new specific commencement date be set. We will make it clear that an indefinite postponement is completely unacceptable, condemning many millions of hens to avoidable suffering.

• Encouragingly, about 90 local authorities no longer use eggs from caged hens or are committed to ending their use in the near future. This is thanks to your support for our Cage-free Councils campaign. We will call on the new Government to set high standards of animal welfare for the procurement of food and meals by the whole of the public sector. This should extend to meat, milk and eggs.

• Pressures are building for the increasing industrialisation of UK dairy farming. A growing number of cows are being kept indoors for all or most of the year and many are pushed to extremely high milk yields. We will call on the new Minister to take action against the construction of so-called ‘mega-dairies’ like the one proposed for Lincolnshire.

We will keep you up-to-date on how you can best raise farm animal welfare issues with your MP. We aim to give further advice on the political action you can take, and will have this ready for you on our website by 18th May, when MPs return to Westminster.

And many thanks to everyone who took part in our Vote Cruelty-Free initiative. I am delighted to say that at least 42 elected MPs have pledged support for the manifesto put forward by a coalition of animal societies including ourselves. These MPs represent cross-party support for animal welfare reforms.

Tags: beak trimming, councils, dairy, debeaking, vote cruelty free. Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

UK Government to break promises on animal cruelty?

Saturday, January 2nd, 2010

Two of the most remarkable animal welfare reforms, achieved by the UK Government, could well be under threat. Ironically, it is the Government itself that appears to be considering undermining both the EU ban on barren battery cages and the UK ban on debeaking for laying hens.

The pro-welfare northern European states, such as Netherlands, Germany, Sweden and Finland, are firmly opposed to any postponement of the historic EU ban on barren battery cages. This is due to come into force on 1st January 2012. The UK too has consistently opposed a postponement. Until now, it appears.

As revealed in the Daily Mail, the UK is now quietly lobbying Brussels for changes in the law. The suggested changes would allow producers who – unlawfully – are still using barren battery cages after January 2012 to sell these eggs, so long as they weren’t for export. If the proposal is accepted, illegally produced eggs could be sold in the country of production. And in so doing, the ban would be postponed, at least partially. Not quite what was intended in 1999 when the then Labour Minister, Nick Brown MP, negotiated an end to perhaps the cruellest of all factory farm systems.

And why is this suggestion being put forward? Due to fears that some producers might not comply with the law, despite having had a decade to get ready for the ban. The approach, suggested behind the scenes by the Government’s Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), is inconsistent with its public ‘no postponement’ position. It would lead to just that – a postponement – albeit for eggs produced for domestic consumption.

What is so appalling is that the Government’s bizarre suggestion would not only allow illegally-produced eggs to be sold in this country, but would reward those producers who have done least in the face of a generous phase-out period for battery cages. It would also condemn countless hens to yet more years of misery in a system that is both cruel and unnecessary.

Thankfully, the UK is alone amongst the pro-welfare north-western Member States; the others are firmly opposed to any postponement.

And all this comes at a time when we know that the UK Government is considering an open-ended delay on the ban on debeaking for laying hens due to come into force in 2011. This follows advice from its national welfare advisory body, the Farm Animal Welfare Council, which effectively and misguidedly suggested an indefinite postponement. A Government consultation is due to take place over the coming weeks. However Defra has already made clear that it does want to postpone the ban on debeaking indefinitely.

Sadly, the promised end to some of the worst farming practices looks less certain. Please join our campaign to ensure that the UK Government stays firmly behind its own welfare reforms. Please send an urgent e-card to the Minister and show him that the public expects promises to be kept, especially when ending cruelty to animals.

On behalf of the millions of hens caged and mutilated, I thank you.

Tags: battery cages, broken promises, debeaking, Defra. Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Keeping up the pressure

Monday, October 26th, 2009

Things don’t always go to plan or common sense. Like the appalling news that Portsmouth could soon be a route again for live animal exports. Or that the Government’s ‘Healthier Food Mark’ for public catering, claiming to promote “higher standards of animal welfare”, allows battery eggs and factory farmed pork and chicken meat. And then there’s recent moves undermining the UK ban on debeaking for laying hens by the Government’s own advisory body. All this demonstrates the broad front on which Compassion is engaging in the battle to end the suffering of farm animals.

On the debeaking front, you will remember that the Government’s own advisory body, the Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC) advised the Minister to defer the 2011 ban on debeaking with no set date for implementation. Debeaking (or ‘beak-trimming’ as it is often referred to) involves cutting off a part of the bird’s beak with a red-hot blade or a laser beam. It is a serious mutilation used to control feather pecking caused by factors such as inappropriate husbandry systems, management or strain of hen.

FAWC not only recommended the ban be deferred, but that setting a new implementation date itself should not be “reviewed” until 2015. I have since written to FAWC demanding to know why an animal welfare body has taken this step. We have met with Government and pressed our case that FAWC’s advice should be ignored. We have a new report about to be released, detailing the scientific and practical evidence that debeaking is unnecessary. Parliamentary action is also planned.

As a school-boy, I was obsessed with watching wild birds. I still am. I also kept hens in our back garden. It was learning about the battery cage and how chickens were debeaked that outraged my young mind. It set me on a lifelong journey to help end the suffering of farmed birds and other animals. It inspired me to support Compassion in World Farming.

A huge thank you to everyone who has acted so far on our campaign to keep the debeaking ban. As a former supporter turned staffer, I know only too well the immeasurable value of our supporter actions, in this case to stop this ground-breaking legislation being kicked into the long grass. Already, some 3,000 people have joined our online action. Our wonderful band of letter-writers has also been active. And 25,000 of our new campaign postcard will be distributed with the next issue of our magazine, Farm Animal Voice.

Reforms for farm animals are hard won. We will increase the pressure to not only keep them, but to press on toward new and ambitious goals. Thank you for being part of it.

Post script: another thing that didn’t go to plan; people gripped by the birdwatching bug amass in the extreme south-west of England, on the Isles of Scilly, each year. I am one of them. Rare and interesting birds are expected to arrive from all points of the compass. And they do. However, this year’s star bird landed, not on Scilly, but in the extreme north-east of the country – South Shields in County Durham. It was an Eastern Crowned Warbler from east Asia – the first time this species had ever been seen in Britain. An epic migration and feat of nature that captured the imagination of birders and media alike.

Tags: birdwatching, debeaking, FAWC. Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

FAWC undermines debeaking ban

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

The British ban on debeaking of laying hens, due to be implemented in January 2011, has been undermined by the Government’s own advisory body, the Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC). A recent FAWC letter advises the Minister to defer the ban with no set date for implementation.

Debeaking (or ‘beak-trimming’ as it is often referred) involves cutting off a chunk of the bird’s beak with a red-hot blade or a laser beam. It is a serious mutilation used to control injurious pecking caused by factors such as inappropriate husbandry systems, management or strain of hen.

In its letter, FAWC recommended that the 2011 ban be deferred. Why? To give farmers more time to adjust their methods. Yet the same FAWC letter admits that the industry has already had seven years to prepare. “More effort should have been made by the industry to prepare for the ban” says FAWC. Compassion couldn’t agree more. By developing “new strains of hen or husbandry systems, for example”, says FAWC. Again, couldn’t agree more. Yet, instead of being clear that more should have been and must be done, FAWC’s advice, if accepted, would effectively leave things open-ended.

FAWC has not only recommended the ban be deferred, but that setting a new implementation date itself should not be “reviewed” until 2015. I cannot help seeing this as a way of kicking this badly needed reform into the long grass.

Debeaking a bird can be likened to cutting off our fingers. It robs the bird of the proper use of its primary way of feeling and exploring its world. As FAWC itself puts it, debeaking is a concern because of the “trauma to the bird during the procedure; loss of a sensory tool; and loss of integrity of a living animal by the removal of part of its beak”.

As we discussed in a recent posting, research shows debeaking to be redundant when strains of birds are selected who are less prone to feather pecking and cannibalism and kept in humane conditions.
Given the lamentable lack of action from industry in response to new legislation, surely more pressure should be applied in readiness for the impending reform? After all, the Government’s decision to ban the serious mutilation of debeaking was supported by science.

I sympathise with those in the farming community looking for clear direction. If FAWC’s advice is accepted, then both farmers and animal welfare will be badly let down. What is needed is strong, decisive leadership that sets a date for reform and does what is necessary to see it through. If, and only if, producers need more time to adjust (and Compassion remains unconvinced that they do), then a specific date should be set now that will give clarity on the future and concentrate minds on the task. It cannot be acceptable for urgently needed animal welfare reforms to be undermined by the inaction of a few.

Strong leadership and animal welfare require the ban on debeaking to go ahead. For the sake of millions of birds that will otherwise suffer this serious mutilation, please help us send a strong message to government that debeaking must become a thing of the past. Act now by lobbying the UK government with this eCard.

Tags: debeaking, Defra, eggs, FAWC, mutilation. Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Debunking debeaking

Monday, September 14th, 2009

Imagine having the tips of your fingers cut off by an infra-red laser beam. That’s the likes of what will happen to female chicks if some leaders of the poultry industry have their way.

Debeaking is one example of how animals are mutilated to make them fit bad factory farming systems. Compassion opposes debeaking and other mutilations including tail-docking, castration, teeth-clipping, toecutting, desnooding, dehorning and debudding. Mulesing in sheep, which I also wrote about recently, is yet another example.

“Surely it is neither inevitable nor necessary to remove bits and pieces from healthy live animals to render them amenable to our purpose,” wrote Dr. Vernon R. Fowler, former Head of Pig Research at the Scottish Agricultural College in Aberdeen. Dr. Fowler made this statement in his introduction to a report written by my Compassion colleague, Peter Stevenson, in 1994. Our report, For Their Own Good, concluded that we:
“wholeheartedly agree with the Farm Animal Welfare Council’s [FAWC] statement that ‘it is difficult to give general approval to any system of husbandry that relies on painful mutilations to sustain the system’.”

Fast forward 15 years and Compassion is still fighting some within the poultry industry on the beak trimming of laying hens. This is despite a UK Government decision in 2002 banning debeaking by January 2011.
In 1994 we voiced our support for FAWC’s anti-mutilation position. In 2007 we had to take them to task for a mealy-mouthed and deeply disappointing U-turn. FAWC wrote to the Agriculture Minister urging the government to repeal the ban. Compassion made it clear that we opposed FAWC’s turnaround. FAWC subsequently softened its position to “any deferral [for a ban] should not be indefinite.” There is, of course, no better driver to solutions than an imminent prohibition. That is our goal. Compassion will not stop until we secure a victory for the hens we represent.

The reason why this is important is because beaks are to chickens what fingers and noses are to us. Debeaking a baby chick is like cutting off the finger tips of a baby human and the ends of their nose.
So, why are some in industry working hard to sabotage the 2011 ban? Why are they so keen to see debeaking remain permissible? Research shows it is redundant when strains of birds are selected who are less prone to feather pecking and cannibalism and kept in humane conditions.

The answer became apparent in the recent expose by Mercy for Animals in the United States. Their undercover investigation revealed how day-old chicks in the hatchery are snapped by their heads into a spinning debeaker machine fitted with an infra-red laser beam which automatically cuts off the tip of their beaks. DEFRA is set to review the 2011 ban on beak trimming and is looking into allowing the infra-red method. Compassion believes that infra-red is no less unsightly and is just as unnecessary a mutilation as using a red hot blade. We will fight to keep the ban in place.

As Peter Stevenson concluded in our 1994 report, “Systems which cannot be run without mutilating the animals are in need of a radical rethink. They should be modified so that the need for mutilations no longer arises; failing that, they should be abandoned.”

Any which way you cut it, including by infra-red laser beams, debeaking is unacceptable. It is time to debunk debeaking. Act now by lobbying the UK government with an eCard to DEFRA.

Tags: beak trimming, debeaking, Defra, eggs, mutilation. Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »