SAFE is urgently renewing calls for a Commissioner for Animals, following the Ministry for Primary Industries’ investigation into heat stress-related deaths of several pigs on a livestock truck earlier this year.

The deaths occurred aboard a livestock truck and trailer operated by Te Awamutu company Osborne’s Transport, which arrived at Affco’s Castlecliff processing plant in Whanganui on January 4.

Upon arrival, two pigs were discovered to have died aboard the truck, and a third pig died shortly after unloading. A fourth pig was found dead the following morning, having been left to suffer from heat stress overnight.

An MPI vet performed postmortems on all four pigs and found foam content in their trachea, which is indicative of acute heat stress-related mortality.

On the day, animal advocate Deno Stock filmed dozens of pigs lying close together and motionless on the floor of the truck, appearing to be suffering from heat stress. In the resulting footage, many of the animals are panting and some have their heads tipped back and mouths open. According to Metservice, it was 27.9C at the time.

SAFE Head of Investigations, Will Appelbe, said this incident would have happened out of sight, out of mind, had it not been for the animal advocates in attendance that day.

"There is no doubt that all 110 pigs suffered in the heat back in January, which lead to the death of four. These types of events are only going to become more numerous as the effects of climate change worsen."

The video prompted animal advocate Lynn Charlton to lay a complaint with the Ministry for Primary Industries, who began an investigation.

MPI has now released details of the investigation under the Official Information Act. On advice from MPI, the transport company has altered its pig collection times from mid-morning to late afternoon, to avoid the hottest part of the day.

"Monitoring of the agriculture industry is woefully inadequate in Aotearoa. This incident begs the question, how often do events like this occur under the radar? The onus should not be on activists to monitor the agriculture industry," Appelbe said.

Aotearoa has Government bodies to represent the most vulnerable populations in society, including the environment. Animals, however, are not represented by an independent voice.

"A Commissioner for Animals would help close the gap on animal welfare monitoring, which, as evidenced by these deaths, is sorely needed in New Zealand."

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