Memorandum submitted by Farm Animal Welfare
Network (FAWN)
FAWN welcomes certain aspects of the Bill (this
submission is limited to elements relevant to farm animal welfare
and game bird welfare). In particular, we welcome the proposed
increased prison sentences, and the increased maximum fine for
cruelty.
FAWN is deeply disappointed that the welfare
of game birds has been ignored, despite representations from concerned
bodies.
— Game birds are not "essentially
animals in the wild" as described in the notes supplied,
regarding the Draft Bill.
— Only a small (and probably unknown)
number of game birds are "caught up" from the wild,
to boost the health status of the millions that are purpose-bred.
— The vast majority of birds shot for
sport are artificially bred (in the sense that the eggs are incubated,
not hatched by the mother bird).
— These birds go on to be fed by game
keepers, for their entire lives.
— They are, for much of their short
lives, kept in pens, while gradually given an increased amount
of freedom. Many, in their early days, are kept in much the same
way as broiler chicks.
— Up to the time of the shoot, birds,
despite being free by thus stage, are actively encouraged to stay
near the site in order to be readily available on the day of the
shoot.
— In order to prevent aggression through
pecking and cannibalism, many birds are fitted with bits, devices
that are clipped into the birds' nostrils and fed between the
upper and lower beak, so preventing beak closure. FAWN believes
that if bits were to be fitted to wild birds, there would be an
outcry from the public and from the RSPB. When FAWN has discussed
game birds with the RSPB, the society has explained that it does
not consider game birds to be wild birds, and therefore they are
outside the RSPB's remit.
— FAWN believes that the fitting of
bits is stressful and dangerous (Veterinary Record has reported
deaths through ill-fitting bits).
— FAWN believes that to stuff up the
nostrils of birds with plastic or metal bits is cruel and endangers
the birds' health, by impeding normal breathing.
— Another device, to discourage aggression
and egg eating is "specs", a type of blinker. As recently
as 2000 FAWN was able to purchase "specs" WITH pins
(ie the pin is driven through the delicate nasal septum). FAWN
has campaigned against this cruel device, which is illegal for
poultry, but not, as far as we understand, for game birds. We
are appalled that this opportunity (ie the revision of the Animal
Welfare Bill) has been lost, to rectify this confusion.
— The more frequently used "specs"
without pins are also cruel, as they are fitted in the same way
as bits, and thereby impede normal breathing.
— Partial beak amputation (beak trimming/debeaking)
is carried out on many pheasants.
These facts back up FAWN's contention that game
birds are not "essentially wild" and we trust that the
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee will consider the
implications of the above information very seriously, before allowing
a misleading description to be included in the Bill. This Bill
represents a rare and valuable opportunity to protect vast numbers
of birds (at the present time a probable thirty million birds
are reared annually for shoots, in the UK alone) from cruel abuses.
To omit these commercially bred birds from protection is as surprising
as is the Government's decision to describe them as "essentially
wild".
FARMED ANIMALS:
While welcoming the enhanced powers of entry
to farm premises, FAWN regards Section 3 (Welfare) (4) and (5)
as unrealistic.
BROILER CHICKENS do not live in a "suitable
environment", are unable to "exhibit normal behaviour
patterns" and do not enjoy "appropriate protection"
from pain, injury and disease. Many broilers die unnoticed in
the litter, remaining there, often to cause problems at a later
stage, for example botulism in cattle. Over a decade and a half,
Veterinary Record has reported outbreaks of botulism in cattle
caused by the animals being bedded on broiler litter. To quote
from the most recent report (VR 5 June 2004, page 734):
"The Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA)
has identified a recent marked increase in the reported incidence
of suspected cattle botulism in England and Wales . . . From 1997
to 2002, the VLA investigated an average of four botulism incidents
each year, but 20 potential botulism outbreaks were investigated
in 2003. There is strong circumstantial evidence that litter from
deep-litter broiler houses was the cause of disease in the majority
of these outbreaks. Investigations have revealed that affected
cattle had direct or indirect contact with poultry litter when
it was used for bedding for housed animals, as a fertilizer on
grazing land, or when it was stored in or adjacent to fields where
cattle were grazing."
This report backs up the oft-repeated claim
by FAWN that it is inevitable that, given the vast numbers
of birds in one unit (50,000 per unit is not unusual) birds will
die at various stages of the six to seven week cycle, and remain
undetected in the litter. FAWN has seen, and photographed, dead
birds and parts of birds present in litter spread on fields and
stacked up, for later use, resulting both from small "old-fashioned"
broiler farms and "state of the art" establishments.
The fact that birds die and remain to rot amongst the living is
a serious indictment of the system, and it is disturbing in the
extreme to note that the "five freedoms" are still optimistically
quoted, as if they can possibly have relevance to intensive farming
systems.
TURKEYS reared intensively (as most are) suffer
from the same environmental deprivation as do broiler chicken
and DUCKS, and, again, the charade of suggesting that Para. 3
(4) (a) to (e) can apply to intensively reared poultry, is, in
FAWN's opinion, disingenuous.
CAGED HENS cannot experience 3 (4) (a) to (e)
in any significant degree. The Government would do well to take
this fact into consideration when deciding whether to allow the
enriched, or modified, cage for laying hens, post 2012. The fact
that hens in enriched cages will still be unable to walk about,
let alone enact their age-old behavioural patterns in any proper
way, is an indictment of the cage system, whether "traditional"
or enriched.
21 August 2004
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