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Fair Go for Farm Animals
SURVEY RESULTS
The Issues Humane Alternatives How you can help
The Issues
Gone are the days when life on a farm meant cows grazing on open pastures, pigs wallowing in mud, and chickens pecking the ground for food or flapping their wings in a dust-bath. Today, most breeding sows and egg-producing hens, and an increasing number of dairy cows, never see daylight or breathe the fresh, country air.
Farming is big business today, with cost-efficiency and profit margins often taking priority over the welfare of the animals. The goal is to get the greatest output from the least input, which, sadly, is achieved by confining animals day and night to a factory production line of row upon row of cramped metal cages. Known as intensive farming, this practice subjects the animals to constant physical and psychological stress.
For sheep, cattle and goats, the suffering continues if they are one of the 7 million animals that endures long distance transport within Australia and live export to Asia or the Middle East.
At the heart of all RSPCA campaigns is the recognition that all animals are sentient beings; that is, all animals are capable of feeling pain and suffering, and of experiencing sensations and emotions. Recognising farm animals as sentient beings makes it vitally important that we treat them humanely, in accordance with the RSPCA’s Five Freedoms.
With community support, RSPCA Qld is working to change consumer attitudes and behaviour towards farm animals, and is lobbying for bans on intensive farming practices and the live export of animals, calling for their replacement with humane alternatives.
For more information on the “Fair Go for Farm Animals” campaign, visit RSPCA Australia at www.rspca.org.au.
Download this information as a fact sheet – click here.
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