VGT: Violations should never be common; Unfortunately, injuries are common on fully slatted floors – which is why a ban on structured fully slatted floors is also necessary
Vienna (OTS) – In the NOP is used to uncover the VGT of one Pig factory in the Mistelbach district with bays with a so-called “structured fully slatted floor” reported that the legal violations at this company were within the “usual range”. VGT chairman DDr. Martin Balluch can hardly believe it: “The authorities are apparently assuming that pig factories with fully slatted floors are breaking the law. But as long as this happens within the usual framework, it’s okay. That’s unbelievable! Breaking the law can never be acceptable, and certainly not within a normal framework. When it comes to animals, the rule of law actually fails when authorities spread such claims to reassure the public and do not intervene.
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Furthermore, after the official inspection, it was acknowledged that there were injured animals, and additionally some animals with untreated umbilical hernias, as well as with bitten off tail stubs despite their tails already being docked illegally and routinely. But this is also apparently accepted as “normal”. Balluch: “This is only normal in pig factories with fully slatted floors, and as we see in this case, also with structured ones Fully slatted floor new. In animal welfare stables, the pigs’ tails are not docked and yet there is no such tail biting.
The difference is made by the deep straw bedding, without which pig farming is not sustainable for two reasons: firstly, the animals need a soft surface to lie on and secondly, plenty of bedding for digging. Both are essential for a minimum quality of life for the pigs.”
Clearly, this pig factory violates two provisions in the pig farming regulations. On the one hand, only pigs with docked tails are used, even though routine tail docking is prohibited. And on the other hand, there is no physically comfortable lying area that is clean and can accommodate all the pigs at the same time. Both of these standards are explicitly stated in the regulation, but are ignored by full-split operations like this one and not enforced by the official veterinarians!
Balluch comments: “That’s right, it’s unfortunately common practice for fully slatted floor pig factories to simply break these two legal regulations. But it can’t be true that the authorities accept this violation of the law as normal! The rule of law must finally be enforced on animals too. It can not go on like this!
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Questions & Contact:
VGT – ASSOCIATION AGAINST ANIMAL FACTORIES
DDr. Martin Balluch
Campaign management
01 929 14 98
media@vgt.at
https://vgt.at