Piggery faces court action

Wairarapa's largest commercial piggery that featured in a television animal welfare media debate was yesterday given notice it is facing prosecution for allegedly polluting waterways.
Reid's Piggery owners Noel and Elaine Reid and piggery manager Stephen Shivas have been given notice they are being prosecuted over an incident in which pig effluent is said to have entered an unnamed tributary of the Parkvale Stream.
According to Greater Wellington Regional Council, the incident involved the discharge of effluent on to land "in a manner which caused ponding and subsequent run-off into the stream" on November 26 last year.
The notice of court action comes hard on the heels of the news media debate over sow stalls and farrowing crates on commercial pig farms that hit the headlines when former Pork Industry advertising frontman Mike King went public on the television programme Sunday over what he described as disgusting conditions in piggeries where pigs are not at liberty to free range.
A Levin piggery was the primary target of Mr King and animal rights group SAFE but in subsequent television news clips the Reids' piggery in rural Carterton was also featured.
Attempts to photograph live footage of conditions inside the Carterton piggery were denied by Mr Shivas.
The pending effluent discharge prosecution was filed by the regional council when a resident notified the council about contamination in the stream.
An enforcement officer allegedly found effluent discharging from an open hydrant on to a paddock and subsequently into the stream.
Environmental Regulation Manager Alistair Cross said an analysis of stream samples confirmed substantial increases in contaminant levels downstream with bacterial counts "similar to those found in raw, municipal sewage".
The regional council believes the contamination had the potential to badly affect flora and fauna in the waterway. It imposed new operating, monitoring and reporting consent conditions on Reid's Piggery in early 2007.
The date of the court hearing is yet to be determined by the district court.
Meanwhile, the national body of the SPCA has renewed a call for a ban on sow stalls and farrowing crates.
Chief executive Robyn Kippenberger has called on Agricultural Minister David Carter to ensure the Animal Welfare code for pigs is changed "as soon as possible" to outlaw cruel practices.
"It is total nonsense for a code meant to reflect humane principles of the Animal Welfare Act 1999 to allow pigs to be kept for most of their lives in such tight conditions they can't even turn round.
"Pig farmers who use sow stalls and farrowing crates are behaving in a totally inhumane and unacceptable way for the sake of short-term profit.
"The industry as a whole does itself no favours by continuing to protect and support these farming methods which are banned in Britain and in many European Union countries."
Customer resistance to buying pork products have been reported in Wairarapa and elsewhere since the news media storm broke over crating pigs.
Ms Kippenberger said the only way to avoid eating pork or bacon produced in "grossly inhumane" conditions is to buy meat labelled either "free farmed" or "free range".
"Its best to look for bacon that bears the blue and while SPCA-approved logo on its packaging."