Calls To Ban Abortions In NZ's Dairy Industry

The New Zealand Green party has added its voice to others calling for a ban on the controversial use of an abortion drug by New Zealand dairy farmers, fearing that it has the potential to damage the country's green reputation as other countries turn to more responsible and sustainable  farming methods.


Dairy farmers in New Zealand have for generations routinely administered the drug to their pregnant cows, terminating fetuses at all stages of gestation, so that milking may start earlier in the season.

The practice, which has been described as "callous and unethical" by NZ animal welfare advocacy group SAFE, was the subject of a TVNZ report shown on NZ television yesterday. See link

Safe's media release, which may be found on its website HERE, stated:

"Dairy farmers deliberately birth thousands of calves prematurely each year in a practice known as "inducing". The vet gives the cows two injections, so their calves will be born 8-12 weeks premature. It's done to get all cows in a herd to calve at the same time, and produce milk earlier. It means many calves are born dead, but some are born still alive and have to be euthanised.
But many vets, including Bernice Mangnall from Canterbury, are against the practice.
"Times have changed, public perception has changed and the requirements on the overseas market have changed," she said. "So this is just moving it on .... and phasing it out."
Hans Kriek from SAFE is among the critics calling for the practice to be banned.
"No one actually realises what we do in this industry and how cruel it actually is," he told ONE News. "New Zealand could seriously pay a price over this, so it's really in the dairy industry's own interests to stop this practice."
The issue has become an ethical dilemma for New Zealand's $6 billion dairy industry, with approximately 200,000 cows induced in New Zealand each year. Farmers say it's a valuable management tool, but are divided on its use..."

According to SAFE's statement although a decision was made to end inductions last October there is no strict auditing of the practice being carried out.

The average size of a herd in Canterbury is approximately 700, so some farmers will induce up to 100 cows.
Inductions were introduced 40 years ago. They are legal but the government's code of welfare for dairy cattle says it's best practice not to do them.
The industry originally agreed to end inductions in October but it has since decided to gradually phase them out.
Fonterra does not support the practice, but still collects milk from farmers who induce. There is no strict auditing of the induction practice.

The Green's media release tells us that it's only the Minister of Agriculture who can ban the induction of dairy cows and make the NZ dairy industry live up to the 'clean, green image' the rest of the world has of it:

Although the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC) acknowledged in its 2010 Animal Welfare (Dairy Cattle) Code of Welfare report that induction 'has the potential to affect the welfare of both cow and calf adversely' and states that it does not support induction, the Report is only a recommendation to the Minister of Agriculture who can ban the practice.
"The Minister has the ability to raise animal welfare standards to match those in the organic standards and production rules of BioGro New Zealand, and AsureQuality," said Mr Browning.
"The Minister has the power to 'clean and green' animal welfare and New Zealand primary production very quickly if he can grasp the vision that most consumers and discerning export markets have."
"Leaving it to industry to phase out inductions voluntarily is a cop out. The Minister needs to use his leadership ability on animal welfare just as he has on the ETS and water quality, because he knows what the best markets actually want and he knows what is right." read the whole release here

fortunately, organically reared cows are not subjected to this barbaric practice in New Zealand.

Links to other blog posts you may also be interested in:
NZ Farmers plan to 'factory farm' dairy cows
Vivisection and animal welfare standards in New Zealand

Other
New Zealand's Pig farm horrors exposed:



Dairy factory farming proposed in the UK:

"Campaigners think cows should be like in the Anchor butter advert, with 50 to 100 cows dancing in a field,' he said. 'It is a lovely idea, but not the reality." read the whole article in The Daily Mail.co.uk

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Another Armed Robbery In Palmerston North

New Zealand's violent crime epidemic continues with yesterday's gun point robbery at a Palmerston North dairy (corner shop) by four youths in their mid to late teens. It follows Sunday's robbery of a New Plymouth dairy by a gang of five teenagers and this morning's Armed Offenders Squad call out to an armed man sighted at a Gisborne shopping centre.

A NZPA report said

Four masked men have robbed a Palmerston North dairy at gunpoint, threatening the owners and an elderly customer.

Police are today still searching for the men who burst into the Gloriana Dairy in the suburb of Highbury about 7.40pm last night, their faces covered with hoodies and clothing.

One of the men threatened the male and female shop owners, and an elderly woman who came into the shop, with a long-barrelled firearm.

They stole the cash register and a quantity of tobacco before fleeing and eluding a police cordon.

The offenders would not have got more than few hundred dollars in cash and a similar value of tobacco, said Detective Sergeant David Clifford.

The firearm has not yet been recovered. Police were trying to identify the offenders by going through security camera footage. They may have been in their mid- to late-teens, he said.

The Association of Community Retailers (ACR) today linked the robbery with the Government's sudden hike in tobacco tax last week.

"They don't need to rob a bank for a mere $5000 when it's easier to rob a dairy of double that amount of value in tobacco products," said tobacco spokesman Richard Green.

Someone had also tried to break into his own Palmerston North Discount Tobacco business early on Sunday morning, he said.

A Ministry of Health proposal to outlaw tobacco displays would also make things worse for tobacco retailers, he said.

"It will be nothing for a couple of criminals to walk into my shop, close the door, assault me and steal my tobacco stock -- all without being seen because my windows will have to be blacked out under the new rules."

But regardless of the cost of tobacco, banks are still seen as easy targets.

This was evidenced by last week's armed hold-ups of the Wespac Bank in Blockhouse Bay and the ASB Bank at Three Kings Plazza, at the end of April. They were latest in an epidemic of bank robberies that's hit New Zealand in recent years.

During 2009 there were 84 Armed Robberies just in banks in New Zealand and hundreds more in dairies, clubs, pharmacies, hairdressers, video shops and other premises.


Much of the increase in armed robbery has been attributed to rising poverty levels in New Zealand, an increase in substance (drugs and alcohol) abuse and mental health problems.

Alcohol offences skyrocketed in Palmerston North during 2009, up from 87 to 409 on the previous year and the Salvation Army issued 1880 food parcels to more than 1130 Palmerston North families in the year to March.

For background see:

• Armed robberies reach historic level

• Armed robbery and drugs, 80% or more smoke weed in Gisborne, 14 April 2010:

"The rise in violent crime in New Zealand continues unabated today with three more armed hold-ups. The first was at the Balance Street Village pharmacy in Gisborne at 8pm yesterday by a man with a handgun who escaped with a quantity of drugs. The second was at the BNZ bank on Ti Rakau Drive, Manukau where two security guards were robbed by two men wielding a shotgun at 9.50am, that was followed by a pistol wielding thug holding up a Palmerston North branch of Kiwi Bank at 4pm.

After a three year climb armed robberies reached a high in 2009. Armed robbery must be one of fastest growing occupations right now in a country where there are enough firearms for one in four of the population.

There were officially 84 armed hold-ups in NZ banks during 2009. See “Armed Robberies reach historic level“

What’s causing this rise, could it be a massive increase in drug and alcohol abuse?

Drug and alcohol dependency are expensive habits to feed in New Zealand, substance abuse causes severe mental health problems that makes people to do irrational and dangerous things (Look at the thug who bottled a grandmother in Tauranga on Sunday morning, hardly the behaviour of a rational person) unless something is done to curb it violent crime is going to continue its upward trajectory.

Here’s a look at what the residents of Gisborne think about their town’s drug problem and the effects it’s having on their once pleasant community. It may come a surprise to anyone thinking about emigrating to the town ‘looking for a better quality of life’ to find out that New Zealand has these issues and how widespread the problem is...more"

Did you know:
There are currently 362 listings for rifles on the NZ online auction site TradeMe. Isn't it time to curb the sale and ownership of firearms in New Zealand, it seems that everyone has gone one...except the police. See: Police Call for Guns.




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