Scout

Thank you. The Following is>

ONE OF A FEW GOOD MENS LETTER TO SENATOR FIELDING
The Letter Remains unanswered. SHAME

The Australian Catholic Study Circle for Animal Welfare

"The Ark in Australia”


PATRONS:

His Eminence Cardinal Edward Clancy

Emeritus Archbishop of Sydney Or Hugh JWirth

President RSPCA, Victoria & Australia

Chairman and Treasurer:

Mr John Drennan Vice-Chairman:

Mrs Margaret Denat Foundress (Australia):

Miss Marrion Craig

ABN: 93 676 785 175

4/35 Morrah Street Parkville VC 3052 Australia

Tel (03) 9347 2851



12 May, 2006

Senator Steve Fielding
Family First

255 Blackburn Road, Mount Waverley, VIC 3149

Dear Senator Fielding,

Re: Our meeting on Live Animal Export to the Middle East

On behalf of Wendy Lewthwaite (People Against Live Exports) and Mark Townend (CEO, RSPCA, Queensland) and myself, I wish to thank you for meeting us on 7 April and for your willingness to look Into the above matter.

It appears to us evident that the imperative to avoid - at the very least -gross cruelty to animals is implicit not only in the teachings of the world's main religions, including Christianity, but also in common humanity. Taken with the demonstrated facts of cruelty in current Middle Eastern methods of slaughter, it appears to follow that a ban on live exports, at least to that part of the world, should continue to be enforced.

We believe that the spirit of the ideals of me Party which you represent entails the above imperative irrespective of economic consequences. But, insofar as these latter are relevant to practical decisions, there is the further point that it would be to Australia's economic benefit to encourage the processing of meat here, to be exported chilled, and subject, in relevant cases, to inspection by duly authorized Islamic halal Inspectors.

We also hope that your Party would see fit to formulate an Animal Welfare policy. Many who support your other policies would be attracted to supporting Family First if a reasonable animal welfare policy were also to be in place.

Yours sincerely,

John Drennan (Chairman ACSCAW).

Wendy, Celivia, Pericles, Yabby and anyone else who is interested, I have started a thread regarding live export under 'General' at:

http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=18

Looking forward to hearing from you.
Posted by Scout, Monday, 28 August 2006 2:32:09 P

Wendy, Celivia, Pericles, Yabby and anyone else who is interested, I have started a thread regarding live export under 'General' at:

http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=18

~Wendy, sorry, I only noticed this very moment that you have started this discussion when I wanted to copy this link on my discussion thread, I must have missed the email alert when you added this info. Will check it out as soon as I have time to do so. Hope you didn't think I wasn't interested. Thank you.~

The AMIEU (WA Branch) joined hundreds of thousands of workers throughout Australia, in the first of many actions, designed to focus public attention on the the Howard Government's anti- worker anti-family Industrial Relations legislation. Whatever it takes - the Australian Union movement will not rest until this rotten legislation is consigned to the rubbish bin of history.

Live Animal Export Protest - Parliament House
The AMIEU joined forces with the People Against Cruelty of Animal Transport (P.A.C.A.T.) in a protest on the steps of Parliament House about the excessive cruelty of the live animal export trade and the disasterous effect this obnoxious trade has had on the job security of thousands of meat workers employed
in abattoirs in Western Australia.

Special thanks to Union Delegates Peter Legg, Darren Miles and Alan Voice who travelled from Katanning on short notice to
voice their anger.

The Live Export shipping companies are only interested in short term profits as they scan the globe for for the cheapest source
of live cargo for their clients - they have no long term commitment to Australian farmers and often use "flags of convenience" ships crewed with exploited cheap labour -
workers on one ship that recently docked in Fremantle
had not been paid for over seven months!

It is only when their unrestricted activities lead to the demise of the Australian Meat Processing industry and the last
remaining abattoirs are forced to close will many consumers
and farmers alike, realize the strangle-hold they have on
our pastoral industry. When farmers are offered a
"take it or leave it " price for their stock and consumers
are left no option but to purchase Australian meat products processed overseas for inflated prices and of
questionable quality

it will be too late

Let your member of parliament know how you feel and how you intend to vote at the next election
if they fob you off!!
The Federal Government have responsibility for all
exports out of Australia and as such could easily
pass legislation that would regulate and
control this obnoxious trade!

In Australia the vast majority of eggs are laid by hens kept in cages on factory farms. Typically there are tens of thousands or sometimes hundreds of thousands of birds in one temperature controlled shed, with automatic water and feed systems and a conveyor as an egg collector, Often only one person is needed to look after the whole shed.

To reduce injuries resulting from excessive pecking — a behaviour that happens in hybrid birds when they are bored and frustrated — all laying hens in intensive systems have part of their top beaks cut off. De-beaking or beak-trimming is a painful procedure that involves cutting through bone, cartilage, soft tissue.

Laying between 250 and 300 eggs per year, the bodies of intensively farmed hens are severely stressed.

They also suffer from what the industry calls 'cage layer fatigue,' and many become 'egg bound' and die when they become too weak to pass another egg.
Osteoporosis is another common problem for egg laying hens, whose bodies lose more calcium to form egg shells than they can assimilate from their diets. Inadequate calcium contributes to broken bones, paralysis, and death.

In some cases, especially if a glut of eggs pushed prices down, laying hens may be 'force moulted' to extend their laying capacity.

For uncaring operators, this process involves starving the hens for up to 15 days, keeping them in the dark, and denying them water to suddenly interrupt their egg laying cycle.

This can lead to another egg laying period when prices are better. Commonly, between 5 and 10% of birds die during this type of moult. Some cage producers achieve a similar objective by changing the diet from a high protein layers ration to a different type of feed – usually barley.
Infections can be a major problem when birds, or any animals, are kept in large numbers within a small space.

Antibiotics are frequently administered as a preventative measure. Respiratory problems are common and as there is little human supervision of the birds (because all the systems are automatic) infections may go unnoticed for days or even weeks.

Seems I have already been included in this discussion (tut tut Wendy) Anyway, we have a new website that is aimed at linking free range farmers together. We would appreciate any site suggestions, including retailers that support our farmers. http://www.freerangepork.com.au