Consumers can improve farm animal welfare standards on World Farm Animals Day

Consumers can improve farm animal welfare standards on World Farm Animals Day
Consumers can improve farm animal welfare standards on World Farm Animals Day. Photo Credit: istock

Sunday, 22 Oct. 2022 is World Farm Animals Day, an opportunity for members of the public to recognize the suffering and climate impacts of the approximately 88 billion land animals who are bred, raised and slaughtered globally for human consumption each year. This year, while animal protection organization Humane Society International/Africa works with the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development and industry bodies to improve the welfare of these animals, the organization also calls on the public to use their purchasing power and make conscious consumer choices.

Despite farmed animals playing such a significant role in human lives, most people have little knowledge of how those animals actually become their food. Over the years, the methods used to raise animals have changed significantly, and the idyllic image of farms with animals on green pastures has given way to a massive industry in which animals are intensively confined, seen as commodities and raised in a way that has negative consequences for both animals and humans.

Animal agriculture is one of the most significant contributors to climate change, representing more than 16.5% of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions globally, which is on par with all forms of transportation combined. It is also the single largest anthropogenic user of land and a major driver of deforestation, species extinction, land degradation, exhaustion of water resources and pollution. The increasing demand for animal feed is also a major driver of the loss of habitat, biodiversity and the destruction of rural livelihoods.

If the implications of intensive animal production appear this dire for people and the planet, the consequences for the animals can only be described as horrendous. Animal production has been optimized in whatever way the pursuit of profits sees fit. Selective breeding, unnatural diets, castration, tail-docking, debeaking, amputation without anesthetics, the routine use of prophylactic antibiotics, long distance live transport and industrial scale slaughter are some of the common inhumane practices that animals on farms face. In many cases the conditions in which farmed animals live their pathetic lives deny them even their most basic needs such as stretching their limbs, running, flapping their wings, foraging for food, mud and dust bathing, natural reproduction and other everyday behaviors.

This happens on South Africa’s doorstep. Nearly 70% of the 135 000 sows in South African production systems are confined to crates and more than 90% of the 27 million egg-laying hens in the country are housed in small wire battery cages, giving each hen less than an A4 piece of paper’s space. Studies show that the intensive confinement of these animals not only cause them physical pain but also great psychological stress.

Further, crowded and unhealthy conditions in which animals are kept, whether on farms or during live transportation, present the ideal environment for zoonotic diseases to spread, potentially raising the risk for future pandemics. Industrial agriculture and livestock farming also promotes intensive use of agricultural chemicals which could affect food quality, human and environmental health.

Candice Blom, farmed animal welfare specialist for HSI/Africa, says South Africa is an animal-loving nation. We are exceptionally proud and protective of our diverse wildlife, and we express great outrage towards cruelty inflicted upon companion animals. It is tragic then that the same mercy is not shown for the over 1 billion farmed animals who are bred and slaughtered in South Africa every year, many in horrific conditions. The mass production of animals for meat, eggs and dairy has grave consequences for the animals, people and the planet but is largely ignored and even disguised. Decades have passed without material amendments of legislation to improve the welfare standards for farmed animals. HSI/Africa hopes that acknowledging a day dedicated to farmed animals and raising awareness of the lack of welfare in our intensive animal production facilities will help increase South Africans’ consciousness about where their food comes from. This day also serves as an opportunity to call on government, producers and industry bodies to urgently transition towards a sustainable food system that is not premised on systemic animal cruelty. “

World Farm Animals Day stemmed from the birthdate of the late Mahatma Gandhi who lived and worked in South Africa for 21 years, fighting against injustice and discrimination. He was an outspoken advocate of non-violence – towards both human beings and animals. The unimaginable suffering of farmed animals in South Africa’s industrial production systems should not continue unnoticed. South Africans have the opportunity to improve farmed animal welfare now and in the future by assuming responsibility at the till point and purchasing higher welfare products and/or alternatives to animal-proteins. The increase in demand for higher welfare products will encourage the government to enforce anti-cruelty legislation and the agricultural industry to commit to environmentally sustainable food production systems not premised on cruelty.

Media contact: Leozette Roode, media and communications specialist for HSI/Africa, c: 0713601104, e: [email protected]