The RSPCA has urged Prime Minister not to sign an imminent trade deal with Australia
which would open the UK to lower welfare imports of animal
products reared in ways which are illegal here.
Australian farming involves a number of practices which are
outlawed in the UK including keeping hens in cruel barren battery
cages, giving beef cattle growth hormones and a practice called
mulesing where sheep have the skin around their bottoms cut off.
Chief Executive of the RSPCA, Chris Sherwood, said: “Everything
we are hearing indicates that is close to signing the deal. At a stroke he will be
setting back hard fought for welfare standards here and giving
Australia no incentive to improve welfare standards there. It
will start a race to the bottom and the losers will be billions
of farmed animals and UK farmers.
“As our sister charity, RSPCA Australia, has pointed out,
standards there fall well short of those in the UK including in
the beef sector which is at the heart of these trade
negotiations. Australia does not mandate CCTV in slaughterhouses
as we do in England, allows hot branding, permits cattle
transportation times that are double that in the UK. In Australia
an estimated one million cattle are reared in barren feedlots
without shade. In the past few years, there have been significant
steps forward for animal welfare in this country and the
Government has committed to going even further so a deal to allow
products from animals reared in conditions which would shock many
British consumers is a clear backward step.
“It’s very laudable to want the UK to be a global leader for
animal welfare but that pledge is undermined if we allow lower
welfare imports.”
Mulesing:
This shocking practice is used in the production of Merino wool
and sees young lambs have the skin around their buttocks and the
base of their tail cut off with metal shears, allowed in most
states without pain relief.
The practice aims to reduce flystrike but leaves a large, open,
painful wound which can take many weeks to heal, leaving the
lambs at risk of infection and even flystrike. There are other
more humane solutions to flystrike but plans by the wool industry
in Australia to phase it out have not been realised. More than 4
out of 5 sheep are still mulesed with only one state, Victoria,
introducing a requirement for pain relief during mulesing so far.
Mulesing is prohibited in the UK.
Beef production
Australia also permits hot branding, a painful procedure not used
in the UK.
The 80 slaughterhouses approved for export in Australia have been
rated just 2 out of 4 for welfare by RSPCA Australia and there is
no compulsory CCTV in slaughterhouses, which is mandatory in
England
As the UK prepares to end live exports, the Government is
preparing to do a deal with Australia which allows beef cattle to
be transported for up to 48 hours without food or water in
intense heat.
Barren battery cages for laying hens
The UK banned barren battery cages for laying hens in 2012 but
these are still used in Australia. In these systems hens are
given less space than an A4 piece of paper per bird and can see
100,000 birds stacked in cages on top of each other. The lack of
space causes stress, an inability to perform their natural
behaviours and can lead to health problems.
Chlorinated chicken
Chlorinated chicken, which sees carcasses chlorine washed to get
rid of microorganisms that can cause food poisoning, is currently
banned in the UK. It often causes concerns around public health
but it also masks a welfare issue as the need to chlorinate the
chicken can stem from poor conditions in intensive systems which
make disease more likely to spread.
Sow stalls
Sow stalls were banned in the UK in 1999 and the Government is
currently consulting on phasing out the farrowing crate system.
Sow stalls are currently permitted in Australia although a large
part of the industry has stopped using them. Standard sow stalls
in Australia are 2m long and 60cm wide and are used for a maximum
of six weeks during pregnancy. They severely restrict the pig’s
ability to move and they cannot even turn around.
As part of its manifesto commitment, the UK Government promised
to maintain and where possible, improve standards of animal
welfare in the UK, particularly as new free trade agreements
(FTAs) were negotiated. The UK has higher legal animal welfare
standards than Australia in virtually every area. Australia has
limited federal legislation on farm animal welfare and its codes
of practice have yet to be converted into legally enforceable
standards and guidelines so are non binding. The only independent
guide to legal farm standards, the World Animal Protection Animal
Protection Index, scores Australia lower compared to the UK.
To maintain its promises to the public and UK farmers, the
Government must ensure tariffs are not relaxed on eggs, beef and
pigmeat unless Australia’s standards are at least equivalent to
the UK’s and ensure our bans on imports of products produced with
growth promoting agents are maintained.
To take part in the RSPCA campaign action, #ActNowForAnimals
visit www.rspca.org.uk/getinvolved/campaign/farmanimals
