All For The Pigs

Saturday 26th July!!! Hopefully a day that helps to turn the tide for the caged pigs in New Zealand.  (I wrote about this in a previous blog - link).

The month of July has been a month of campaigning by members of SAFE around the country getting as many signatures as possible on a "Say No To Intensive Pig Farming in N.Z." petition.  This was kicked off with a documentary which aired on national television (See here for the Sunday Program) which was an expose on pig farming.  The following week was a further follow up program which, again, highlighted the plight of piggies, this time showing the abuse of piglets and a sow all taken with a hidden camera by Farm Watch on a different, randomly pick farm.

But, getting back to Saturday the 26th July.  SAFE organized protests and rallies in the main cities in both the North and South Island, with smaller centers getting on-board with petition signings and even a bake stall in one area.

In Tauranga, where I live, we had a signature drive in the Mount Maunganui area.  The sun was shining and the people were out walking the beach, having their cappuccinos, climbing the Mount or just enjoying the sun.  With 7 members of SAFE (two dressed in the piggy costumes) mingling among them, within a couple of hours we had filled over 25 sheets of the petition pages - well done Tauranga!!!

The majority of people were so ready to sign and most knew what the issue was without being told - wonderful!  One young woman I spoke to, who is from Holland, is totally disgusted with the way we treat our animals here.  She told me that Holland has banned all cages for any animal and that if they can do it with way more population and less space, then so can we in N.Z. - I totally agree with her.

I do have a really special THANK YOU to the Mount Pharmacy (Find them on FaceBook) - two wonderful women who gladly signed the petition...but that's not all, the owner then slipped away and came back with the most awesome little piggy keyring!!!  Her way of saying thank you for the work SAFE does. - That small gesture just blew me away

If you're at Mount Maunganui, need a pharmacy, please go there .... in fact, even if you don't need a pharmacy, just go in and say hi anyway - they are pure magic!

Thanks to everyone, volunteers and public, who made this such a powerful day - let's hope we see some difference for the darling pigs.