CODES OF ANIMAL CARE

[Oscar]

CODES OF ANIMAL CARE

[ https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opini ... s-dec-23-7 ]

Winnipeg Free Press - Letter to the Editor by John Fefchak - December 21, 2023

The hog industry, more than other agricultural industries, has faced serious challenges to its viability across Canada and the United States because of allegations that its operations are bad for the environment and inhumane to pigs.

It is no secret that the hog factories in Manitoba and throughout Canada have made news stories and headlines for many years now. People have been complaining, not only about the toxic odour but also about personal health-related problems. They have also expressed concerns about the pollution of the environment, the water and air quality.

I also know "there is a big difference" between the family farm and the industrialized method of producing hogs." That big difference must be seriously addressed by our local and provincial governments.

At present, rural Manitobans are basically at the mercy of the hog industry, the provincial government, and the discretion of municipalities. Rural leaders and especially The Association of Manitoba Municipalities (AMM) have a very important role to play. They have a responsibility to recognize and be aware that there is a huge difference in the normal family farm operation and that of the Intensive Livestock Operations (ILO's). Changes are required and must be established.

The current dinosaur Manitoba Farm Practices Protection Act and guidelines needs to go. It actively precludes a complainant from going to court. What is really needed is legislation precluding emissions (for the human senses and environmental pollution)

For instance; appropriate regulations and "set-back" standards must be established and put in place to "protect the people", the rural residents, whose quality of living is being compromised. The 6-0 ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada recognized that "Rural People do Matter."

By no means, is this modern hog production!

Nature did not intend for hogs to live by the thousands, crammed together inside buildings, raised on pharmaceutical products, with no access to the outdoors for grass, sunlight or the clean healthy scent of fresh air. The industrial production of these animals is a grim saga of asphyxiation, fire traps, health risks and animal misery.

John Fefchak.
Virden, MB.