Westpork cruelty case delayed again

Submitted by Louise Sales on Fri, 25/11/2011 - 15:20

After a delay of several months, the Westpork cruelty case has again been delayed until 2nd February due to missing documentation. Westpork and its general manager Mr Neil Ferguson are also due to stand trial at a later date on an additional four charges of animal cruelty. Greens WA spokesperson on Animals, Lynn MacLaren MLC is calling for Mr Ferguson to step down from the industry boards he sits on while the Magistrates Court hears the charges.

“This is the second time cruelty charges have been laid regarding Mr Ferguson’s Gingin piggery within two years and he should immediately stand down from the industry boards while the case is ongoing,” said Lynn MacLaren.

Mr Neil Ferguson is currently a board member of Australia’s peak industry body for pork producers - Australian Pork Limited (APL), chair on the WA Agriculture Produce Commission (Pork Committee), and a Pork Training WA Committee member. This is the second time that Mr Ferguson has appeared before the courts on charges of cruelty yet requests for Mr Ferguson to be removed from the Board of APL have been dismissed.

“Ten charges of cruelty to pigs have been laid against Mr Ferguson and numerous other charges have been laid against members of his staff at Westpork Ltd. In this day and age, cruelty charges are not taken lightly by educated consumers, who have brought about a transformation in meat marketing through the demand for ethical products,” said Ms MacLaren.

“I’m concerned that the Minister for Agriculture Terry Redman may have been receiving animal welfare advice from an industry representative with animal cruelty charges pending, and call for the Minister to reconsider the Government’s refusal to ban sow stalls earlier this year,” concluded Ms MacLaren.

Sow stalls confine a pregnant mother pig (a breeding sow) for the majority of her life in a tiny metal crate required only to be 1cm longer and wider than her body. Pregnant females confined in sow stalls are denied the ability to turn around, to exercise, or to express most natural behaviours. Ms MacLaren introduced a motion in Parliament in April this year to amend proposed Government regulations to prohibit the tight confinement of pregnant pigs in gestation stalls in WA by 2017. The motion was defeated.