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NEWSFLASH - LFA AGM AND TRIVIA NIGHT FUNDRAISER NEXT THURS 9/9 - DON’T MISS OUT!!!

Amendments to the Code of Practice have seen ‘benchmarks’ implemented calling for the three R’s: reduction (less animals used), replacement (non-animal alternatives) and refinement (ensuring suffering is minimised).

Unfortunately, there is still a long way to go before there is an onus on people to utilise non-animal means of testing – such as the use of proteins from human cells.

Some two million animals have died in transit, while the remaining ’survivors’ are subject to barbaric methods of killing and/or further transport, upon arrival.

Due to its international element, the Federal Government is responsible for this area of animal welfare. Pressure on the Government to stop live export is gaining momentum, with recent surveys showing that Australian’s overwhelmingly oppose it.

Though rarely acknowledged, fish suffer. Their writhing bodies and flapping gills are a desperate plea for the oxygen they breathe from water (rather than air).

Governments now understand the massive damage done to marine ecology, but there must be equal consideration for fish suffering.

Despite having personalities and intellects similar to dogs, sows are kept almost continually pregnant, and confined to stalls where they are unable to turn around or express their natural behaviours.

The chronic stress means they spend much of their time engaged in purposeless behaviour, such as head waving or bar biting.

Prior to giving birth, sows are moved to farrowing crates; barren, concrete enclosures where mother pigs spend weeks at a time on their bellies as they wean their young. They have no chance to form any lasting bond with their offspring.

Racing places enormous pressure on the immature skeletal systems of young horses and regularly leads to lung-bleeding, while a high incidence of stomach ulcers occurs from the high-concentrate grain diets.

Slower or injured horses are routinely discarded by the industry. An estimated 20,000 horses end up at Australian slaughterhouses or ‘knackeries’ each year, with thousands enduring hellish journeys over many days to reach the abattoirs. Much of the horse meat is then shipped to Asia and Europe.

Joeys remain dependent on their mothers for survival for between 18 months and about 3 years. If orphaned joeys are not killed, they die of starvation, exposure, dehydration or predation.

Under the applicable Code of Practice, small, furred pouch young (that are easily held with little struggle) must be euthanased by a forceful blow which destroys the functional capacity of the brain. According to the new Draft Code of Practice, this “may be achieved by forcefully swinging the head of the young against a solid metal object (e.g. tow bar of a vehicle).”

Chronic stress is evident by their continual chewing of their wooden slat fencing and other repetitive behaviours.

Despite a Code of Practice stating that sheep unable to adapt to indoor conditions should be returned to grazing, this rarely occurs, because the definition of ‘unable to adapt’ is too vague.

Despite industry’s promise to phase-out mulesing by 2010, many retailers throughout Europe have boycotted Australian wool due to overwhelming consumer concern.

More humane alternatives to surgical mulesing, such as intradermal injections prompting fleece to fall away from the breach (permanently) through a process of necrosis, are currently not receiving the support they require from Australia’s wool industry.

Battery hens live in a space smaller than a sheet of A4 paper, restricting any freedom to express natural behaviours.

Numerous European countries - including Germany, Austria and Sweden - have banned battery cages, and the EU has a total ban set for 2012.

Unfortunately, Australian politicians have not followed this global shift.