Agriculture Minister promises improvements at pig farms

print this

Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Sirkka-Liisa Anttila (Centre) promised on Friday that improvements will be implemented in conditions at Finnish pig farms.
      According to Anttila, the state will start providing investment subsidies for the establishment of new pig farms. Before that, tougher animal welfare rules will be drawn up. Farmers who want to implement them will be entitled to generous state support.
      “The pig farmer will decide whether or not to take the road of better animal welfare, in which case the state will pay for 75 per cent of the extra costs. This is quite a strong incentive”, Anttila said.
     
A furore over conditions at pig farms arose over a week ago when an animal rights organisation released photographs and videos of pigs being kept in squalid conditions. State veterinarians then conducted inspections at about 30 piggeries, and found shortcomings at 14 of them.
      Defects included dirty and wet sties, insufficient stimulus for the animals, and inadequate ventilation.
     
The shortcomings were seen as serious by Jaana Mikkola of the Finnish Food Safety Authority (EVIRA).
      “They have an immediate impact on the well-being of the animals. It is not just a question of a half a square metre too little space, or a feed trough 20 centimetres too short”, Mikkola says.
      Owners have been ordered to fix the shortcomings. EVIRA is also asking police to investigate.
      Last year, defects were found at 15 per cent of pig farms in connection with routine inspections.
     
Also examined in the recent inspections was how well veterinarians had dealt with previous supervisory visits.
      Sirkka-Liisa Anttila says that the current enforcement system is not without gaps. She promised on Friday that veterinarians making inspections would be given training for the task.
      Slaughterhouses will also take more responsibility for keeping scrutiny on pigs’ well-being.
      “When slaughterhouses receive pigs from a farm they will check to see what condition the animals are in. If there are problems, a message will be sent and measures will be taken”, Anttila says.
     
Anttila has rejected allegations from the animal rights organisation that took the pictures that she is incompetent as a minister. The group said that she has not fulfilled previous promises to improve conditions of production animals.
      “I feel that as a minister I have done what I can. The owner of an animal is ultimately responsible for seeing to it that it is well cared for. The system needs to be such that problems are uncovered. Now that we get the slaughterhouses to join in, I would say that the situation is rather good”, Anttila says.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Extensive changes demanded in animal welfare rules (10.12.2009)
  Anttila promises extensive improvements in conditions on pig farms (26.11.2009)
  Animal rights activists interrupt question-time in Parliament (18.12.2009)
  Farmers’ union denounces squalid conditions revealed at pig farms (11.12.2009)

Helsingin Sanomat