Animal Welfare Policy

Note: This was the policy released for the 2005 election. An updated policy for the 2008 election will be released shortly.

Introduction

The Green Party believe that animals have an intrinsic worth that is above and beyond that of a human resource. Animals, like humans, experience pain and pleasure, and should be able to live without suffering inflicted by humans. We recognise the long history of the contribution of other animal species to human welfare; however, we acknowledge that they should be valued as distinct, diverse beings to be treated with respect and compassion

Key Principles

Animals should be treated with compassion and respect.

Humans have a responsibility to ensure animals live in ways that allow them to display natural forms of behaviour and do not cause them to suffer.

Ethical decisions about the lives of animals must be as open and accountable as possible.

Animal experimentation must meet a much higher burden of proof of necessity than it does currently.

Specific Policy Points

1. Independent Ministry of Animal Welfare

At present animal welfare issues are addressed within the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. This gives rise to a perception that producer interests may be given priority over animal welfare issues in the consideration of controversial issues such as whether it is acceptable to raise animals in cages.

To avoid this perception and ensure that animal welfare policy is developed in a robust and comprehensive manner, without the current dominant influence of industry, the Green Party will strive to:

• establish a small Ministry of Animal Welfare which will be independent of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, and will report to a Minister of Animal Welfare. The Minister will appoint members of the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee, and the National Animal Ethics Advisory Committee

• ensure that the new Ministry of Animal Welfare promotes farming methods which do not cause animals to suffer or prevent them from expressing normal patterns of behaviour

2. Animals in Agriculture

At present a number of practices are widely used in farming which cause animals to suffer and restricts their ability to express normal patterns of behaviour. The new Ministry of Animal Welfare will develop a comprehensive strategy for the treatment of all animals used in agriculture, which aims to protect them from abuse and ensure they do not suffer.

The new Ministry will develop codes of welfare for all animal species which are raised as food animals. These codes will go well beyond just the provision of adequate food, water and shelter at all times. They will include definitions of what natural forms of behaviour are for each species. All livestock will have to be treated in accordance with these codes of welfare.

The Green Party will work to eliminate, over the next decade, farming methods which cause animals to suffer or prevent them from expressing normal patterns of behaviour. In particular we will move to:

• phase out sow crates within 5 years

• phase out battery hen cages within 5 years
• phase out cruel techniques such as debeaking and mulesing, in association with the development of alternative, humane practices.

3. Transport of Animals

Many animals suffer when they are transported over long distances. We want to ensure that any transportation is kept as low stress for the animals as possible. The Green party will promote legislation that will:

• require animals to be slaughtered as near as possible to the point of production but be consistent with food quality requirements

• require the codes of welfare to specify transport conditions which minimises stress for animals.

Live export of animals by sea involves high casualty rates and stress for the animals involved. To avoid this, the Green Party:

• supports the adoption of a carcass and/or meat product only trade with overseas companies, and will prohibit immediately the transport by sea of live farm animals for any purpose where the sea journey exceeds 24 hours. Breeding material would still be able to be exchanged through semen, egg and embryo import and export.

4. Animal Feed

More than 2000 products, including around half of the nation's supply of antibiotics, are fed to animals. Antibiotics are fed to animals which are not sick, to promote growth and for prophylactic purposes. The practice of feeding low doses of antibiotics to animals may contribute to the emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria which, in turn, can be passed through the food chain. Microbiologists warn that the spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria poses one of the most serious public health threats in the 21st century. If the threat is to be decreased, the practice of feeding antibiotics to animals which are not sick must stop.

The Green Party will work to:

• phase out the use of growth hormones/antibiotics to make animals grow more quickly or produce more milk.

• phase out the use of antibiotics in animal production except where there is an immediate risk of disease or infection.
• require that antibiotics are prescribed only by qualified veterinarians.

5. Animal Experimentation

Much experimentation involving non-human animals is not only unnecessary but it also fails to show respect and compassion for them. The Green Party believes the extent of such use of animals should be drastically decreased with the ultimate aim of abandoning it altogether. To this end, the Green Party will:

• support research into, and development of, methods that do not use animals to test the safety and efficiency of new drugs, foods or other products

• shift government funding away from animal experimentation towards non-animal studies, such as clinical studies, epidemiology and other non-animal research methods
• require alternative methods to animal experimentation and testing to be used wherever they exist
• until such time as animal experimentation is phased out, support ethically based legislation that will end practices such as vivisection and minimise the number of animals used in experimentation
• require all animal experiments to be approved by a disinterested statistician to ensure that the number of animals used is the minimum required for the experiment
• require all educational institutions to provide non-animal alternatives for course work, where they exist, and ensure that students are aware that these alternatives are available
• require all educational institutions to limit, and eventually phase out, the use of animal experimentation as a teaching method
• require all experiments involving non-human animals to be reported on to the Ministry of Animal Welfare on an annual basis and for this information to be publicly available. Information required will include the species and numbers of animals involved, the purposes for which the animals were used, what non-animal methods were considered as alternatives to using animals and the reasons why none of these non-animal methods were able to be used.

6. Animal Ethics Committees

Animal ethics committees play a potentially important role in safe-guarding the welfare of animals in institutions. To achieve this potential, however, the committees must be representative, accountable and well informed. The Green Party will work to:

• require that at least half of the membership of animals ethics committees be comprised of representatives of the wider community

• ensure animal ethics committees have strong guidelines and oversight about the importance of minimising the use of animals, including clear information about alternative methods of research
• require animal ethics committees to make publicly available records of their deliberations.

7. Consumer Right to Know

Consumers have a right to know, when, where and how all animal products are produced so that they can make informed decisions about the methods of production they will support through their consumption. The Green Party will promote legislation which will:

• require all producers to label their animal products according to strict criteria concerning the methods by which the animals were raised (e.g. caged vs barn-raised vs free-range hens; use of antibiotics or growth hormones)

• require all products to carry labels indicating whether they have been tested on animals.