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Animal cruelty, in treatment of any animals that humans deal with in society, is something that must not exist, either legally or morally, and it must be eliminated in industrial animals as well. Shinjiro Koizumi, Minister of the Environment This was clarified by a question from a member of the House of Representatives, Keinin Horikoshi (Gunma), at the Environment Committee of the House of Representatives on November 17, 2020. For many, this must be taken for granted. However, in the livestock industry, animal cruelty has become commonplace, and mistaken procedures have become commonplace, and the self-cleansing action to correct them has not worked, and the animals used for livestock have…
A member of the House of Representative, Mr. Seiichi Kushida from Kanagawa, asked questions about battery cages for chicken hens, gestation crates for sows, dog meat, and treatment for retired horses at a committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries held on November 11, 2020. Mr. Kushida started by referring to the demands from the olympians that eggs and pork for the Olympics and Paralympics should come from cage free and gestation crate free ranches. With that, he requested minister Nogami from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (MAFF) to take a leadership role to tackle animal welfare issues in Japan. In his response, the minister stated as follows: Animal…
Animal Rights Center Japan has collected signatures and submitted the petition calling for improvements to slaughterhouse animal welfare, and has worked on various slaughterhouses 1 2 3. But at the moment there is almost no information suggesting improvements. The problem of inadequate drinking water at slaughterhouses has not been solved. Animal welfare education for slaughterhouse staff is not provided, either. Dragging immobile cows with chains, not caring for lactating dairy cows (not milking etc), moving to slaughterhouse weak animals with hernia etc not suitable for transportation, twisting cows’ tails to move them… these present practices violate the animal welfare standards of the OIE (World Animal Health Organization) to which Japan is…
Breeding sows are impregnated (through artificial insemination or copulation with boars) about 8 months after their birth. After impregnation, each sow is placed into a gestation crate (also known as a sow stall) – A metal crate or cage with a bare slatted floor. Is so narrow that she can’t even turn around or stretch. She stays in this crate for the whole of the gestational period (115 days). Shortly before giving birth, she is moved into a farrowing crate. A farrowing crate (or, stall) is similar to a gestation crate but with bars at the sides thorough which the newborn piglets (who are kept in a small enclosure, next…
This is the 4-panel manga written by Vege Manga Natsumi for Animal Rights Center’s ARC NEWS newsletter. No. 10, we’re releasing a little earlier than usual, why? because the topic is timely!! * If you’d like to reproduce it, please include the URL below and the name “Animal Rights Center Japan”. Animal Rights de GO! Series »Animal Rights de GO! 1 SOS with chicken eggs»Animal Rights de GO! 2 What pigs pray for in the end»Animal Rights de GO! 3 Cow milk is the mother’s milk»Animal Rights de GO! 4 Dolphin sold to aquarium»Animal Rights de GO! 5 Thanks to chickens?!»Animal Rights de GO! 6 Sorrow of a trapped mother»Animal…
It’s a big step for a pig producer in Japan to decide they no longer use sow stalls. We confirmed Prima Meat Packers decided to go sow stall free for their new buildings as well as the existing facility when they renovate it in the future. Prima Meat is planning to build a new swine facility in Miyagi prefecture. This facility will be the first one to implement a sow stall free system in Japan equivalent to EU standards. There are pig farms with some sow stall free houses. However, this is especially notable since Prima Meat is one of the biggest companies in Japan. We hope this will be the first…
It was about three years ago when I was 17 years old that I learned about “gestation stalls”. Why isn’t such an important thing taught at school or discussed on TV? I was full of frustration and started researching like crazy. If the dog or cat living together at my home were in the same position as these pigs… what would I do…?? That’s it. Just that one question, I’d like you to ask yourself once.
The national grant programs that support the livestock industry of Japan range so widely, from the two possibly most known programs called “Strong Agriculture Grants” and “Livestock Cluster Business” to lesser known programs such as a compensation for farms when production costs exceed the selling price and a simple long-term and low interest-rate loan, that we can not list them all here. (See here for more detail.) With the novel coronavirus as well, various support for the livestock industry was established. Let’s take a look at the support system for the livestock industry during the COVID-19 crisis, as a reference for how much the country regards the livestock industry as…
There are various support systems for the livestock industry implemented by the country, and one of them is the Comprehensive Subsidies for Developing Strong Agriculture & Leaders. As previously reported in another article, from 2018, when using this grant to establish a local meat production center (slaughterhouse for pigs, cattle, etc.), “consideration for animal welfare” has become required, and it has become necessary to install drinking water at the slaughterhouse, which ARCJ had been asking for. The vague phrase “consideration for animal welfare” is not specific and limits executive power. However, the addition of such item to the standards for the grant system is a step forward. But animal welfare…
Companies that contributed to expanding animal welfare Animal Welfare Award (AWA) is an award annually* selecting and giving thanks to companies that consider animals and work on animal welfare in Japan which is lagging behind the world in terms of animal welfare for livestock and aquaculture animals. In the view of Animal Rights Center Japan that works to protect livestock animals in Japan, efforts resulting in the biggest impacts have been recognized. * The first round covers efforts from 2019 through March 2020. The Results
Since 2016, Animal Rights Center Japan has been conducting a survey once a year using a private company to find out how much awareness there is about the actual rearing conditions of livestock animals. We have now conducted a survey for 2020, so will report the results. The questions are the following 10 items. Do you know that many of the mother pigs are confined in gestation stalls, small enclosures in which they can’t turn around? Do you know that many of the piglets are castrated and have their teeth and tails clipped without anesthesia? Do you know that many of the chickens for eggs are kept in metal wire…
After considering animal welfare alone, HORIZON FARMS, which is committed to free-range grazing, has made a stall-free declaration, promising to never lock mother pigs into gestation stalls, now and in the future. According to HORIZON FARMS staff, they make procurements while constantly checking with rigorous eyes whether especially the pregnant pigs are spending time relaxed, whether they have good care during child bearing, and whether the interactions between piglets and mother pigs are realized. At HORIZON FARM, which asserts that “In low-cost, high-volume animal agriculture, animal welfare is ignored. We never compromise the health of the animals and the consumers for the sake of increasing productivity”, they offer meat from…
2019 was a year with many natural disasters due to violent typhoons. Animal Rights Center Japan has investigated livestock animals in the affected areas and saved records of them. A 3-minute film “Don’t leave me” edited based on footage taken at those times received the Murakami Hiroyasu award (director of films such as “Tokyo Higata”) inithe 3-minute video corner at the Labor Festa (an event about documentary films, etc) held in Tokyo Tamachi Transport Hall on December 21. (★ There are some scenes that are difficult to watch in the footage.) It’s a small piece, but that the livestock animals in the affected areas are…
The livestock industry uses animals daily and works side-by-side with death. The trapped animals mean death if humans stop feeding them. Inappropriate treatment is abuse, and animals are suffering from mistreatment. The situation is determined by the livestock farmer’s one arrangement, one consideration, one lazy heart, one action without courage, and the animals are all under the dominion. Japan is a disaster powerhouse. Earthquakes, water disasters, and typhoons often come and leave great scars every year. In recent years, “stricken areas” keep increasing dramatically. When these two things are considered together, livestock farmers must prepare for disasters much more than usual, and in the event of a disaster, they should…
There are various support systems for the livestock industry implemented by the country, but one of them is Comprehensive Subsidies for Developing Strong Agriculture & Leaders. As previously reported in another article, from 2018, when using this grant to establish a local meat production center (slaughterhouse), consideration for animal welfare has become required. In the case of implementing the maintenance of local meat centers among livestock product processing facilities, efforts shall be made to effectively utilize the recycling of slaughter residue, etc., and handle livestock in consideration of animal welfare. Although it is not specific, it was a step forward in animal welfare that such a sentence was added to…
On June 27th, the meat processing companies Primaham and Starzen held annual shareholders assemblies in Tokyo, and this year we were in front of the venues to encourage shareholders to ask the companies questions about the confined pig breeding practice. A total of 12 people took part in the action toward abolishing pregnancy stalls, asking shareholders to comment on the use of pregnancy stalls at the meetings. We handed out over 150 copies of targeted flyers of Primaham and over 100 copies to Starzen, respectively. In the leaflets distributed, we encouraged the investors to ask their respective companies the following kinds of questions: Please tell us about your…
It was shocking to hear the response by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF) to a question about animal welfare at the Tokyo Olympics asked by Councilor Katsuya Ogawa from Hokkaido at the House of Councilors Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. Shocking response 1. Perhaps MAFF doesn’t know much about the group rearing of pigs? The OIE Pig Welfare Policy was established in May 2018, and it recommends that the sows be bred in groups, indicating that pregnancy stall breeding does not satisfy animal welfare (OIE Animal Welfare Code: Animal Welfare and Pig Production System. Article 7.13.1). In promoting group rearing, MAFF has expressed concerns as follows:…
In February 2019, hog cholera crossed the border of Gifu prefecture and reached Aichi, Nagano, Shiga, and Osaka prefectures. There are many livestock producers in the area of Tahara-city of Aichi prefeture. Many pigs have been killed since cholera was first observed in Gifu prefecture in 2018. The number of pigs killed has risen to 40,000 in total as of February 2019. It is horrifying to imagine there will be more pigs killed considering the concentration of such business in Tahara city in Aichi. The reports by media and comments by concerned parties only focus on economical damage. However, the biggest loss and victims are indeed pigs. It is not…
Mother Sows in Captivity:sow stall in Japan A rearing method which has been illegalized in many countries is still used at more than 88% of pig farms in Japan. These are photos taken between 2015 and 2017 at Japanese hog raising farms. Sows are shut in a small cage called a sow stall (gestation create). Sows spend almost all of their entire life in a cage in which they cannot walk or turn. Sows engage in abnormal behaviors such as biting their cages, continuously doing chewing motions without food in their mouths, and drinking water without stopping. The EU banned sow stalls in 2013, and ten states in America have banned them.…
10 Olympians started the campaign to demand animal welfare at 2020 Tokyo Olympics. They said “If you do not update the policies and food quality acceptable in our city’s Olympic Games, your city could be viewed as behind the global trend toward improved welfare standards for animals in factory farms. This is extremely problematic.”
The multi-partisan parliamentary group aiming for zero killing of dogs and cats has established a project team for amending the Animal Welfare Act. Since its launch on August 25, 2023, the PT has held 21 meetings to hear from stakeholders and deliberate on the direction of amendments. Out of these 21 sessions, however, only one touched on livestock animals, and just one on laboratory animals. Despite 1 billion livestock animals being killed annually, the issue remains far from the priorities of lawmakers. In the sole PT meeting addressing livestock, the discussions showed promise, but it is unlikely to expect significant amendments by 2025 at this rate. 17th PT: Hearings on…
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