Liberate

Next time you plan a trip to a local battery hen farm you should remember to pack yourself a tape measure (unprinted of course : – ). On the first of January this year new ‘minimum standards’ for the stocking density of birds in battery hen cages came into effect. These standards are issued under the Animal Welfare (Layer Hens) Code of Welfare 2005.

Codes of Welfare are issued under the Animal Welfare Act (the Act) for some animal abusing industries. They set down minimum standards and recommended best practices; only the minimum standards are legally enforceable. Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the SPCA and the Police are inspectors under the Act and are responsible for enforcing the minimum standards.

As of the first of January the space per bird on a battery hen farm was meant to increase by 50cm2; this is an area approximately the same as an eftpos card. The standard area allowed to each bird prior to this new minimum standard was 450cm2; this is approximately the size of an A4 sheet of paper. There is another standard for all cages built after the 1st of January 2008; these cages are supposed to allow each bird 550cm2 (this is an increase equivalent to the size of two eftpos cards). By 2014 all cages are supposed to allow each hen 550cm2.

What does all this mean? you ask. To be honest not a whole lot for the animals actually. It is my opinion at least the Animal Welfare Codes are not worth the paper they are written on; the animals want freedom not a little bit more room so they can almost stretch one wing at a time (provided their cage mates aren’t trying to do the same thing of course).

• Cages existing prior to the commencement of this code: 450 Sq cm/bird (minimum)
• New cages built after the commencement of this code: 550 Sq cm/bird (minimum)
• All cages existing prior to the commencement of this code from 01/01/08: 500 Sq cm/bird (minimum)
• All cages from 01/01/2014: 550 Sq cm/bird (minimum)

While these increases are insignificant, they were hailed by NAWAC and the Minister as great changes for the welfare of battery hens and were in some way meant to make up for the fact that they did not recommend banning this cruel practice as other countries have done. In light of this to catch farmers not even being able to meet these changes could result in prosecutions of animal abusers and would also result in NAWAC, the Minister of Agriculture and Industry Officials looking bad.

If farms are found to be breaching these new standards a COPY of the evidence should be sent to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) with a covering letter detailing the farms location and what the evidence shows.

MAF can be contacted through the following means:

Snail Mail: MAF
PO BOX 2 – 526
Wellington
Email: animalwelfare@maf.govt.nz
Telephone: 04 – 819 – 0100

To measure the cages use your tape measure and measure the length of the front of the cage and then the depth of the cage. When doing this you should also film:

- the activist/s measuring the cage
- the entire length of the tape measure against the cage to show that it is only measuring one cage
and in one shot zoom in on the tape measure to revel the measurement. Do the same for both the length and depth as this will be useful evidence
- the number of birds in the cage that you measured

Other tips:

- Film a few cages and check the number of birds in each cage incase this varies.
- When filming the depth of the cages do this at the end of the row so that you can clearly show that
you are measuring correctly.
- The actual calculations can be carried out at home, rather than in the sheds.
- To calculate the area per bird us the following formula
Length x depth / the number of birds = area per bird
- If your tape measure only has inches the conversion to centimeters is 1 inch = 2.54 cm

A disclaimer/cautionary note: It is not being suggested that missions should be for the sole purpose of checking compliance with these new regulations it is simply another angle to look at during farm visits, investigations and liberations. We do not want to get too hung up on compliance with the Welfare Code standards because to do so would validate them and could lead to us being seen as possibly supportive of the industry if the codes were followed.