The ACT has taken a significant step forward in the animal protection movement with the passing of the Animal Welfare (Factory Farming) Amendment Bill this week.
Demonstrating leadership in farm animal welfare, the ACT Government has effectively banned the use of some of farming’s cruellest practices – the use of battery cages, sow stalls, debeaking and farrowing crates. In so doing, the ACT has joined other nations, including the United Kingdom and Sweden, and other domestic jurisdictions including seven US states, taking steps to outlaw the cruel methods used in factory farming.
While there are currently no factory farm piggeries or cage egg facilities operating in the ACT, the passing of the Act is important both in the precedent it creates and to prevent future factory farms using these practices.
Most importantly, says Voiceless, the animal protection institute, this Act recognises that the quality of these animals’ lives matters. That they are not machines, but sentient creatures who experience extreme pain and stress when raised in intensive conditions and that the law should protect them from suffering.
Voiceless has been joining forces with other animal agencies including Animals Australia to bring about a nationally consistent approach to a ban on sow stalls, farrowing crates, battery cages and other such cruel and inhumane factory farming processes.
Voiceless is now calling on politicians across Australia to show leadership, to follow both the ACT government’s lead and international precedent, and to legislate to bring an end to factory farming.
For more information on how you can help, visit Voiceless or Animals Australia
