Govt bans 'cruel' sow stalls

Wairarapa pig farmers who have been using controversial sow stalls must change their ways or face the law's wrath.
The Government has taken the first step to improve pig welfare by announcing a ban on sow stalls from 2016.
Animal welfare groups are largely crediting the ban to a campaign that reached its zenith when a current-affairs television programme exposed pigs' anguish when confined to the stalls and farrowing crates.
Part of the televised footage, which led to widespread outrage, was filmed at a large commercial piggery in rural Carterton.
The ban does not include farrowing crates which animal-rights group SAFE says is disappointing. SAFE director Hans Kriek said while his organisation was delighted with the looming ban on sow crates, farrowing crates were an equally cruel confinement system.
"It is great to know sow stalls are finally going after so much lobbying and campaigning but we remain mindful that pigs are not yet free," Mr Kriek said.
The five-year phase-out period for the sow stalls meant 15,000 sows would "continue to suffer" in the meantime.
SAFE said public opinion had beaten down the pork industry in its determination to resist the law change.
Mr Kriek said SAFE would step up its consumer focus to encourage supermarkets not to stock pork products sourced from pig farms that used sow stalls.
"It is up to consumers to get pigs out of these cruel crates sooner than 2016."
In Australia, the pork industry has voluntarily decided to phase out sow stalls. Mr Kriek said although that would not happen until 2017 - a year later than New Zealand - the voluntary ban had clearly been driven by consumer pressure.
Coles, Australia's second-largest supermarket chain, has refused to buy pork from farms using sow stalls.