from the RNZ studio, imnofox spoke to Katherine Ryan about animal welfare

KR: “Good morning and welcome to the show. We’re in the middle of the campaign, with politicians campaigning on issues all over the place. But one issue we haven’t heard much about this election is animal welfare, that is, except for from the Green Party. I’m now joined by Green Party co-leader imnofox. Kia ora.”

imnofox: “Good morning Katherine, it’s good to be here.”

KR: “What’s the need for animal welfare reform?”

imnofox: “Well, animals are sentient beings, able to experience pain and distress as well as positive states, just like humans. And so as we keep pets or farm animals, we have a moral responsibility to ensure that every animal is treated with respect, that we minimise pain and suffering, and that we provide every animal in human care with a high quality of life. And that involves better oversight, better restrictions on the use of farrowing crates, and the reduction of factory farming techniques.”

KR: “You mention the need for reform to the use of farrowing crates, but aren’t gestation crates already banned?”

imnofox: “While the use of gestation crates are prohibited, there’s no such regulation of the use of farrowing crates which are little bigger. More than 16,000 mother pigs are kept confined in farrowing crates, unable to take more than a step forward or backwards. These sows are unable to build a nest for her piglets, unable to even turn around. Often they develop pressure sores and joint injuries, and often we see them chewing the iron bars of her crate in utter boredom. That’s no way to treat an animal, especially one that’s more intelligent than a dog, and maybe even the Prime Minister. Our policy is to restrict the use of farrowing crates to just 72 hours. It’s inhumane to keep them there any longer. We know it’s not necessary: 30% of kiwi farms already don’t use these crates. It’s time to make that the norm.”

KR: “Your opponents would say that they’re going to be slaughtered anyway, so what’s the point?”

imnofox: “Just because they’re being farmed for meat doesn’t mean they don’t deserve a decent quality of life. Everyone dies. We invest in elderly healthcare support because we believe humans deserve a good quality of life before they die, and the same goes for animals. We need reforms around the slaughtering process too. You’ve got stock being transported in cramped trucks for hours and hours on end. That’s no way to treat an animal. We need to require all agricultural stock to be slaughtered at the nearest slaughterhouse, not drag these animals halfway around the country. We need to ban the transport of livestock for slaughter where the journey exceeds 8 hours. You can look at the issue of bobby calves, who are even more susceptible and vulnerable to rough handling and mistreatment.” KR: “What about animal experimentation- I know myself and other kiwis are conscious consumers when it comes to animal testing and experimentation, but it can be pretty difficult sometimes. Do you have any plans in that area?”

imnofox: “Definitely. We recognise that experimentation on animals is usually unnecessary and totally fails to show respect or compassion for them. The extent of animal testing needs to be drastically decreased, with the ultimate aim of eliminating all animal suffering from testing and experimentation. I want to make a legal presumption that no animal testing will be used, and require non-animal methods of testing to be used wherever at all possible. In those rare cases where there’s no non-animal alternative, we need to limit such experiments and research to just situations where animal suffering is reduced as much as possible and there’s overwhelming benefit to animals or humans as a result. It’d be great to get some clearer labelling for consumers as they browse the supermarkets too.”

KR: “Well, thanks for coming on the show. I’m sure you’ve got lots of campaigning to do!”

imnofox: “It’s my pleasure”

imnofox takes off his headphones, swings open the window, and jumps 5 storeys onto a strategically placed trampoline before landing on the roof of the next bus