The Environment Ministry and MAFF notified: hanging pigs and abandoning chickens to death are inappropriate, strict measures including accusations will be taken

On 2021/1/21, the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) issued an important notice for farmed animals.

“Regarding carrying out proper culling of industrial animals on farms”

This notice was issued to correct the existing non-compliance with the law when culling weakened and to-be-killed chickens, pigs, cows, and quails in livestock farms.

The content is fairly rigorous. If you read this article, please call attention to livestock farmers around you. That there is a possibility of accusation.

The notice is not long so we’d like you to read it for details, but we’d like to explain a few points.

Hanging pigs and starving chickens to death

“Recently, a livestock farmer has been suffocating pigs for a long time by hanging them, and causing chickens to starve or debilitate by abandoning them without proper treatment or culling. The information was confirmed by the Ministry of the Environment.“

Since last year, Animal Rights Center Japan has consulted with the Ministry of the Environment, MAFF, and politicians about multiple abusive acts at livestock farms that carry out inappropriate culling. The content was cruel and would be surprising to anyone, an issue well before animal welfare. Individual details like the case of a pig farm that kills pigs by hanging will be published later depending on the negotiation situation, but what we would like to emphasize is that such is not just one special case.

Not many are clearly more illegal than hanging, but it’s not the only one.

It is also known that many poultry farms systematically carry out starvation and abandoning chickens to death. The “Umedori” incident over the course of 2019-2020 in which 16 million birds were starved to death is still fresh in our memories, but it’s not ok even if it were just one bird. Recognize that it is illegal to leave a suffering animal to die. We’ve heard various reasons: “I don’t want to do anything”, “If we let employees do it they’d quit”, “I feel sorry killing too many”. However, in the first place, the livestock industry is a place where animals die every day, and at the end it is a profession that kills everything. It is a profession where one must to be aware that animals suffer when they make excuses. If they can’t even fulfill their minimum responsibilities, they should leave their job right away.

The judgement point is the sound common sense of the general public

“The Act on Welfare and Management of Animals prohibits the unreasonable killing and assault of animals. These generally refer to cruel treatment such as causing unnecessarily intense pain, and the specific judgment shall take into account the purpose, means, mode, etc. of the act and the pain on the animal due to the act; it should be judged by the sound common sense of the general public as the social norm.“

“It should be judged by the sound common sense of the general public as the social norm”, and should not be judged by feelings that are desensitized to the suffering of animals in the livestock industry. When working to eliminate the suffering of animals in the livestock industry, we often encounter livestock industry affiliates whose impressions are that “livestock animals don’t feel pain”, “it doesn’t hurt when hit”, and “you can burn them because they’re weak”, but it means we must correct those impressions.

One must not abandon the responsibility of culling

“In addition, as mentioned above, the guidelines stipulate that culling should be carried out by an appropriate culling method, and in “Basic concept of livestock rearing management in consideration of animal welfare” (abbreviated), if there is no chance of recovery after treatment, or if there is no chance of recovery to normal growth due to marked poor growth or weakness, and if livestock culling must be carried out on the farm, the culling must be done by a method that is as painless as possible, such as killing immediately or causing loss of consciousness immediately.“

What’s quoted here is the notice from MAFF. Even though the competent ministries have clearly stated, there are many poultry farms that can cause debilitating death. Not just small poultry farms. Some poultry farms cannot reveal the method of culling. Perhaps they are afflicting animals completely unconsciously. But that is unacceptable.

Please acknowledge that livestock animals are legally protected animals

“Although it is difficult to uniformly determine whether an individual act is cruelty, animal cruelty must not be legal or moral in the treatment of any animal in society in which humans are involved.“

It states that “animal cruelty must not be legal or moral in the treatment of any animal in society in which humans are involved”. This indicates that animal cruelty is unreasonable if it is simply because of the standard operation. For details, please check the response of the Ministry of the Environment to the question of Representative Keinin Horikoshi in November 2020 and the commentary by ARCJ.

Until now, the Ministry of the Environment had not taken livestock animals seriously. However, guidance from the perspective of the Ministry of the Environment will become even more important in the future. Animal welfare is a global concern and is in the process of reshaping the market. Investment is also following this. And the idea of one-health, which connects people, animals, and environmental health, and the idea of social and environmental sustainability, is becoming more important nowadays. People are beginning to realize that life and ethics come before productivity and economics.

The government will take strict measures, including accusations!

“For this reason, the 2019 revision of the law clarified that the penalties for inappropriate slaughter and abuse of animals have been significantly raised since June last year, and that the cooperation between the Animal Welfare and Management Department and the Livestock Department has been strengthened. With this in mind, the relevant departments will work together to ensure proper handling of industrial animals, provide guidance and advice to businesses related to the prevention of abuse, and thoroughly share information. If there is a possibility of abuse such as debilitating industrial animals due to improper rearing or culling is not done by appropriate methods, please demand prompt improvement, and if there is no intention of improvement, please take strict measures, including accusations to the police.“

The important point in this notice is that it requires local government officials to “take strict measures, including accusations to the police“. It clarifies that it is against the law, that improvement is needed, and that strong guidance is needed.

Surprisingly, however, some local government officials in the agricultural administration department do not even know that culling is taking place on the farm. Therefore, to be honest, it is concerning whether administrative guidance will work. MAFF says that it notified and explained it at the section chiefs’ meetings nationwide. Beyond that, NGOs like us and citizens need to monitor companies, farms, and the administration. If this surveillance does not work, society will not improve.

This notice is issued jointly by the General Affairs Division Manager of the Environment Ministry Natural Environment Bureau and the Livestock Promotion Division Manager of MAFF Production Bureau Livestock Department. This is the first step in strengthening cooperation with the livestock department of the revised Act on Welfare and Management of Animals, which came into effect in June 2020. In addition, in the incidental resolution at the time of the amendment, it is also the first step of “12. Regarding animals related to livestock farming, it is necessary to disseminate and thoroughly comply with the standards for rearing and storage of industrial animals stipulated by this law and appropriate measures shall be taken under the provisions of this law”. The livestock industry is under direct jurisdiction of MAFF and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, but that boundary must be crossed to prevent abuse. It was a law revision for that purpose.

Finally…

Even if the administration has issued such a strong notice, we cannot be optimistic. This is because we have been witnessing a lot of abuses and kept seeing excuses and not making improvements at all. And we know that if one keeps a lot of animals, they will always be abused. Animals don’t move as they wish. Because they’re not machines. The treatment will have to be rough. And in intensive livestock farming, time, productivity, efficiency, economy, etc. are emphasized, and even the working conditions of people are not acceptable. Rough treatment always occurs. Even if written in the manual, in the limited time treatment must become rough.

For this reason, surveillance cameras are being introduced overseas for animal welfare. Without taking such surveillance measures, there is no point in expecting deterrence assuming good nature of humans.

Cruelty will continue.

The administration will likely be pushed back by the producers’ excuses.

Still, as long as the livestock industry continues, we must not pretend not to see the suffering of animals, and we have no choice but to make such step-by-step efforts.