Animal Welfare Board Urges Centre to Act on Cruel Crates Used to Confine Mother Pigs, Following PETA India Appeal

For Immediate Release:

22 February 2022

Contact:

Hiraj Laljani; [email protected]

Farhat Ul Ain; [email protected]

Delhi – Following an appeal from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India, the government body Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) has written to the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying requesting an action taken report on the use of gestation and farrowing crates in pig farming nationwide. The letter follows circulars recently issued by the governments of Madhya Pradesh and Goa prohibiting these crates after action by PETA India. The Punjab government has previously issued a similar circular. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research’s National Research Centre on Pig has also confirmed that contraptions in which pigs do not have a reasonable opportunity for movement (like gestation and farrowing crates) are illegal as per Section 11(1)(e) of The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.

A copy of the letter submitted by the AWBI to the Centre is available on request.

Gestation crates (aka “sow stalls”) are metal cages essentially the size of a pig with concrete or slatted floors, which leave the animals unable to turn around or even stand up without difficulty. They’re used to confine pregnant pigs, who are typically transferred to farrowing crates to give birth and are kept in them until their piglets are taken away. Farrowing crates are fundamentally the same as gestation crates, except that they contain small side enclosures for piglets.

“PETA India thanks the Animal Welfare Board of India for its action, which has the potential to spare countless pigs suffering in severe confinement inside crates,” says PETA India Advocacy Associate Farhat Ul Ain. “PETA India reminds everyone that they can help prevent the suffering of pigs simply by not eating them, as the use of these crates is just one horrific practice of the pig-meat industry. Pigs are also transported in extremely crowded vehicles to slaughterhouses, where they’re killed by being struck on the head or stabbed in the chest.”

Gestation and farrowing crates deny mother pigs everything that’s natural and important to them, such as opportunities to forage, build a nest for their young, socialise with other pigs, and regulate their body temperature (such as by wallowing in mud). The crates also force pigs to live amid their own faeces and urine. The extreme stress and frustration caused by this severe confinement results in abnormal behaviour, such as continually biting at the enclosure bars or “chewing” the air.

PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” – notes that pigs are intelligent animals who should not be exploited. For more information, please visit PETAIndia.com or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

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