Petition Filed: Hogs Starved to Death in Ehime

On July 28th 2022, we filed petitions to the Saijo Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution in regards to the case in which hogs were starved to death. We collected petitions from experts to send it over to the prosecutor in Saijo after the indictment for this case was suspended. The details of the case can be found here. So far, we have collected petitions from 27,406 individuals and we’re continuing to receive more. 

Opinions received from experts 

The following experts shared their opinions as we submitted the petitions: *alphabetical order  

• Seiichi Kushida, a member of the House of Councilors of Japan
• Aya Sugimoto, the president of Animal Welfare Organization, EVA
• Koji Takikawa, an writer, a former farmer
• Hiroshi Hasegawa, a hog farmer, the president of Research Institute for Saving Mother Earth
• Masakazu Hirabayashi, a veterinarian, the director of All Pet Clinic 
• Kunio Fukuda, a professor at Meiji University  
• Koichi Hosokawa, a professor at Japan Women’s University
• Keinin Horikoshi, a former member of the House of Representatives of Japan
• Maiko Yasuno, an associate Professor at Yokohama National University 

—

Seiichi Kushida, a member of the House of Councilors of Japan

Japan ranks lowest in terms of treatment of animals when comparing it to the World’s standards. This is because its agriculture industry perceives livestock animals as just their merchandise so they do whatever they want with their animals. If we keep overlooking horrific treatments of animals, we’ll forget there are companies in good standing who make efforts to do otherwise. 

Why did they let this horrific incident go? We believe the reason behind this is that there are not enough enforcements because they’re not interested in following the law to ensure animal welfare. 

Most citizens don’t want Japan to be a country in which livestock animals are treated cruelly. 

So we should simply hold them accountable when companies keep their livestock animals in terrible conditions. We hope the prosecutor office will hear our voice. 

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Aya Sugimoto, the president of Animal Welfare Organization, EVA

[Excerpt] We should not allow inhuman treatments when using animals. We must realize it is a crime to kill animals by agonizing or torturing them. Anyone should know this if we have intelligence and a healthy mind. 

–

Koji Takikawa, an writer, a former farmer

This case is clearly against Article 44 Clause 2 in the Act on Welfare and Management of Animals. It is one of the global standards that no animals should suffer from thirst and starvation.

Even if they end up getting slaughtered for meat, farmers should be responsible for treating these animals with care till their last moments. It is appalling to learn that such act is still in practice today. I demand the prosecution office charge the company following this Act. 

–

Hiroshi Hasegawa, a hog farmer, the president of Research Institute for Saving Mother Earth

The price of imported animal feed is increasing despite the fact that the price of meat has been stagnant. Mr. T, who is a piglet seller, told that the profit has dropped by 2 million yen. Mr. T’s farm is relatively small as he only sells about 1,000 piglets a year but the bigger the farm is the bigger the loss companies must face. The government manifested they would support farmers by providing subsidies. That said, we can only expect 70% of it and the subsidies won’t be provided until next year. Farmers are not to be blamed for the price increase of the feed. And yet, we somehow need to cover 30% and we have no idea how we can survive till next year. We are truly desperate. 

That doesn’t make it ok to abuse animals. We can’t ignore such an illegal act. We strongly hope these abusers will face appropriate charges as well as a monitoring system to be introduced so they won’t repeat such horrific behaviors in the future.  

–

Masakazu Hirabayashi, a veterinarian, the director of All Pet Clinic  

Veterinarians are required to notify the prefectural governor and any other concerned parties   when they find the carcass of an animal that is considered to have been injured or made subject to cruelty according to the Revision of the Act on Protection and Management of Animals that became effective on June 1st 2021. 

I, Masakazu Hirabayashi, believe there has been neglect in the pig farm as the video footage clearly indicates. I demand that the prosecution should be reviewed once again. 

–

Kunio Fukuda, a professor at Meiji University  

They abandoned their pigs while providing no feed or water that resulted in death. 

I am hurt by this horrific event, but this is only the tip of the iceberg as there are so many incidents that involve abuse of animals including dogs, cats, pigs, and cows.
Pigs are sentient animals just like humans. 

The prosecutors must follow up and get this farmer to face serious charges for this act. 

–

Koichi Hosokawa, a professor at Japan Women’s University

Some people may think the Act on Protection and Management of Animals is merely about a law to protect animals. Article 44 in this Act states that a person, who has destroyed or injured an animal without reason, shall be punished by imprisonment. The same article defines animals as cattle, horses, pigs, sheep, goats, dogs, cats, domestic rabbits, chickens, domestic pigeons, and domestic ducks. 

This incident clearly violates this act as it involved neglect of pigs that led to starvation. Even though the company was going bankrupt, there is no room for leniency.  

Ehime presented itself as a primitive prefecture since the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Ehime division didn’t respond to the incident properly, the prefecture police failed to investigate, and the District Public Prosecutor’s Office dropped the case. I covered a video footage that clearly shows their pigs starving to death in the article of  Gendai Business Online, which received quite a lot of comments from the nation. The impact would be great if we let this incident go and Ehime prefecture would be seen as though that’s their way of handling such crimes.

–

Keinin Horikoshi, a former member of the House of Representatives of Japan

A horrific event took place in a pig farm due to the owner’s neglect, and yet, he didn’t face any charges.  

Pigs are social and communicative animals living in groups, who are highly intelligent. 

What they had to go through is simply unimaginable while witnessing their family starving to death in a tiny cage. 

How on earth is this terrible act justified by law? 

As a person who was involved in the revision of the Act on Protection and Management of Animals, I am terribly sad and disappointed to see the law not being properly enforced to a situation such as this.  

–

Maiko Yasuno, an associate Professor at Yokohama National University 

I am angered and baffled by the decision made by the prosecutors who dropped this case. I demand that Article 44 of the Revision of the Act on Protection and Management of Animals be followed. The reasons behind this revision was to enhance penalties for animal abuse cases. As a country that pursues democratic constitutionalism, I hope the law is carefully observed and strictly followed for this case. While the illegality of this case was acknowledged, it was dismissed due to“all things considered.”We don’t know what the “all things”were exactly, but we ought to follow the law nonetheless to set a precedent.

Winston Churchil once said that Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.

This story was introduced in a book titled The Whole Hog: Exploring the Extraordinary Potential of Pigs by a zoologist, Lyall Watson. Dr. Watson claimed pigs are able to hurt, feel, cry, communicate, solve problems, and have their own culture. A biologist, Dr. Shinichi Fukuoka, who translated Lyall’s book, also stated that pigs, whom humans have looked down on historically, are more sensible, intelligent, and sophisticated than humans, hence, they are able to tolerate humans’ barbaric and intolerant acts. Humans domesticate such intelligent animals to eat them. As ethical beings, we should at least respect them before we take their lives away. I truly hope the Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution will judge with fairness and kindness. 

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Opinions from Animal Rights Center 

*Partially omitted to protect personal information 

The environment for those pigs was utter devastation as they were starved to death and piglets were trampled after they were born. Everyone knows it was clearly an animal abuse case so we are completely baffled by the dismissal of the case. 

The fact it was done by not an individual but a company in the agriculture industry does not give any excuse for such an act since this is beyond industry practice and they clearly crossed the line. This is against objectives stated in the Act on Welfare and Management of Animals: 

Article 1 : The purpose of this Act is to engender a spirit for animal welfare among citizens and contribute to the development of a respect for life and sentiments of amity and peace by providing for the prevention of cruelty to and abandonment of animals, the proper handling of animals and other matters concerning animal welfare such as maintaining the health and safety of animals, as well as to prevent animals from causing an infringement on the life, body or property of humans or impediments in preserving the living environment by providing for matters concerning the management of animals, thereby realizing a symbiotic society of humans and animals.

It’s proven that there is a connection between animal abuse and human abuse. This sort of neglect can cause a chain reaction if this is overlooked by the law and our administration. Who knows who’s going to be our next victims? It could mean that starving care recipients won’t receive sufficient care.  

Some say Mr. M is still involved in care for pigs, which clearly shows he has no idea he is  incapable of taking care of animals. 

A person who abuses and starves animals to death wouldn’t typically be sent back to take the same responsibility, and yet the owner continues to assign Mr. M to be involved in animal care. Mr. M has not been given an opportunity to reflect on what he has done since his charge was dropped. We are not aware of the reason why his indictment was suspended. Some speculate Mr. M has some mental disorder but he is still involved in raising pigs. He may lack some morality as he seems to be capable of ignoring animals’ sufferings but he is capable of being held accountable. The reporters claimed that no one cared though there was obvious wrong doing. 

We truly hope we will see justice for this matter in the court.