Australians Think Treatment of Farm Animals Unacceptable

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According to a recent Newspoll survey, 99% of Australians are against animal cruelty and find certain farming, testing and breeding practices unacceptable.

Farming

86% of Australians believe keeping egg laying hens in cages for their entire lives is unacceptable, 74% think castrating animals without anaesthetic is unacceptable and 72% also say killing male chicks in egg production is unacceptable.

This portion of the survey centred on the common treatment of our farming animals in Australia. For example, in the egg production process, male chicks are of no use, and are killed by methods such as grinding them alive, while many egg laying chickens spend their whole lives in a small cage with 3-5 other birds. Chicks often have part of their beaks seared off without anaesthetic. Cows are made pregnant every year to produce milk, so they're routinely both pregnant and being milked at the same time, which puts a tremendous strain on their bodies. After lives spent producing eggs and milk both chickens and cows are typically killed.

Neutering of animals is also usually done without anaesthetic. The most common method of castrating bulls uses a knife to cut open the scrotum and take out the testes.

Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows that hundreds of millions of animals are killed for food in Australia each year.

Former beef farmer, Harold Brown says, "In my experience, there is no such thing as humane animal products, humane farming practices, humane transport, or humane slaughter."

Animal Testing

80% of Australians think it’s unacceptable to test cosmetics on animals, while 43% make an effort to buy non-animal tested products.

The survey, run by Newspoll for the Vegetarian/Vegan Society of Queensland, and funded by Voiceless, the animal protection institute, through their annual Grants Program, canvassed a representative sample of people across the country.

Copies of the survey report can be downloaded from the survey Twitter site at http://twitter.com/ozvegsurvey and will also be available from the Society website at www.vegsoc.org.au