Danette Wereta, general secretary of the Animal Justice Party, said it was “unthinkable to consider that [the cow] did not feel extreme pain or terror”.
“Referring to her as ‘it’ also highlights the systemic problem; she was a living, sentient mum capable of fear and suffering.
“If a human had been treated in this way, the criminal liability would be indisputable.
“Yet under current law, the burden of proof falls on an animal that cannot speak for herself.
“This is morally and legally unacceptable.”
Wereta said New Zealand was marketed as a “clean, green country”, but there were many “dirty dairy and environmentally harmful farming practices”.
“Recent changes allowing mumma pigs to be kept in cages and the proposed rollback of live animal exports reveal what farming in New Zealand is really like: cruel, shocking, and unethical.”
The latest incident was not an isolated one, she said.
“Footage from farms around the country reveals systemic cruelty, fear and neglect endured by farmed animals.
“The legal loopholes that allow such acts to go insufficiently punished must be closed and minimum standards raised in codes of welfare.”
Brittany Paton, Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) acting district manager, animal welfare and national animal identification and tracing (Nait) programme compliance in Canterbury, said that although unconscious, the cow was still alive during the incident.
“This animal suffered an inhumane death,” Paton said.
“As the people in charge of the animal at the time they failed to act and humanely destroy the animal when they realised it was still alive and that is unacceptable.
“MPI began investigating following a complaint that farm workers at an Ashburton property had filmed themselves processing a cow.
“Although unconscious, the animal was still alive.
“This was acknowledged by one of the farm workers on two occasions, yet they continued to process this animal.
“When we find evidence of cruelty to animals, we take action.”
