The Rural Voice, 2001-07, Page 25Educating the public on industry
standards plays a huge role on the
way people look at the treatment of
farm animals.
mals have turned up with severe
bruising and fractured and broken
bones.
However, according to Ballentine
in Ontario there are rules that downer
animals need a veterinary -approved
certificate before a crippled animal is
moved to the slaughter house.
Animals are not allowed to be
dragged unless it is an emergency,
Ballentine said. They need to be put
on some kind of sled or mat before
they are moved.
Animal Alliance is working with
the government to end the practice of
picking up downer animals. They
hope a law will be put into place that
all animals that are crippled on a
farm die there.
The animals are in their final
moments and should be treated with
some dignity, White said.
"We should do what's right by
these animals," White said.
Animal rights lobbyist are most
concerned with "factory farms".
They disagree with the number of
animals in the barn, the spacing, the
lighting and the air quality.
Whacking intensive livestock opera-
tions with charges of animal cruelty
is a concern with the new bill.
It is something Goderich-area
chicken farmer Mark Allen is wor-
ried about. He has 27,000 layer hens
that produce about 14,000 dozen
eggs a week.
Farmers don't have time to waste
sitting in court, Allen said. It takes
Allen about four hours a day to har-
vest a day's crop of eggs plus the
constant maintenance duties that
need to be looked after. There is no
time to waste sitting in court, Allen
said.
"Every animal rights group could
bring every livestock and poultry
producer into court and tie us up
indefinitely," Allen said.
Allen has the right to worry. Liz
White feels the current conditions for
layer hens is horrendous. Birds are
stuck in cages with three or four
other chickens and little room to
move, she said. Chickens' beaks are
clipped. They have no fresh air and
the way they are loaded onto the
trucks at the end of a crop is terrible.
"None of that is humane," White
said in a phone interview.
However, the cage system keeps
the animals clean and out of the
manure they produce, Allen said.
The cage system allows for the birds
to get better ventilation;
Putting chickens in cages is some-
thing that can't be rationally
explained to activists, Allen said.
"For them it is an emotional
issue," Allen said.
Ballentine is aware of times
when farmers.have been taken
to court by organizations that
are completely unaware of industry
standards. While the cases were
thrown out of court,
it cost the farmers
time and lawyers'
fees.
Jennifer Haley of
the Ontario Veal
Association said her
group is in favour
of the intentions of
the bill. However,
they want the words
willful and inten-
tional abuse to ani-
mals to be included
in the legislation.
"The wording
doesn't protect law-
ful activities,"
Haley said. Down
the road someone
who isn't from agricultural back-
ground could see some of the activi-
ties as abuse.
White snickered at the suggestion
of adding the words willful
and intentional into the bill. By
adding willful, the bill wouldn't be
effective. Who would admit that
they willfully beat an animal if it
meant going to jail for fire years.
White asked. There would be no
room for prosecuting animal abusers.
she said.
"The bar would be set so high.-
White said.
Proving the legitimacy of every
day livestock .practices would not be
difficult but it would be a nuisance.
said OFAC's Ballentine.
"That's what it could boil down
to." Ballentine said in a phone inter-
view from OFAC's office in Guelph.
There are current guidelines for all
farmers to billow. In the peal indus-
try guidelines are in line with current
industry practices and treat animals
fairly. Healy said.
Keeping farmers in check and
watching out for animals is some-
thing White and Animal Alliance
take very seriously. For farm groups
to be opposed to a new bill about ani-
mal cruelty is pathetic, White said.
Everyone should want good treat-
ment for animals.
"It looks really bad for them to be
opposed to this," White said.
Brenda Linton is involved with
the Huron County Humane Society.
This has affected the way her hus-
band Dave treats and houses his ani-
mals.
The bill comes down to the way
animals are treated.
It was not designed
to bring the entire
farming.industry on
their knees.
Moving animals
from the property
section of the crimi-
nal code and into
their own is some-
thing farmers
should be in favour
of. Linton said.
Animals 'are not
the same as a piece
of property. Dave
Linton said. They
feel pain and get
hungry. he said.
Animals need to be
treated differently than property and
differently than humans.
"Live animals are not the same as
a hammer or a socket wrench,"
Linton said.0
"Every animal
rights group
could bring every
livestock and
poultry producer
into court and tie
us up
indefinitely,"
Mark Allen
JULY 2001 21