VIC Australian Law on Treatment of Birds in Poultry Farms

[Rickytrigg]

I work on a poultry farm in Victoria. They house cage birds for egg production. Typically, the birds live for a year and are removed and replaced. I have seen a lot of things I would consider morally wrong but I want to know more of Australian Law.

1. They have a no photography policy but I feel like this outweighs that. I want images of the wrongdoings.

2 Bird welfare laws. I have to witness countless birds rotting alongside live birds as we endeavour to remove them, however, they tend to keep making the job harder and harder.

 

[Rod]

You are looking at a lose/lose scenario. You potentially lose your job, they potentially get into trouble with animal welfare.

A policy of no photos can be justified on a few grounds so at face value seems like it is not unreasonable. Contravention of the policy can be a sackable offence.

If the animal welfare is compromised, and I make no judgement on that, the business may get into trouble.

I can't make a recommendation that may see you sacked. You need to work out if your conscience or money is more important. Again I take no view on your personal circumstances as putting a roof over your head and feeding your family is very important. It is not your fault that a business operates in this manner.

Assuming the business is selling eggs to a supermarket, I see this as one of the evils of a duopoly the ACCC has allowed to occur. Supermarkets continually pushing suppliers to reduce costs has consequences. These consequences are not really that hard to see yet the situation has been allowed to develop and flourish by the ACCC.

 

[Rickytrigg]

Thanks so much for your reply.

I intend on leaving this position on morality grounds anyway. I just want to do something for the chickens before I go. I have asked places such as the rspca for legal advice on certain practices and want to meet with my bosses in hopes of change rather than having to take it further.

The problem is the eggs aren't for sale, they are then hatched in company to become eating birds. Some of these birds grow up in rspca approved farms so Coles and woodies can look good selling rspca approved meat, meanwhile the egg aide is far from it. Is there anything you can think of legally I can do to speed up the changes?

I personally think getting this information to the public so they can see even the most cared after chickens, their parents aren't so lucky