Death threats for reporting animal abuse
Animal advocacy group Safe is calling for action from farming groups after whistle-blowers received death threats for reporting animal abuse.
Chief executive Debra Ashton said the organisation had received 15 complaints from whistle-blowers in the past two months.
Three of those involved people being threatened for coming forward with information.
Ashton said a third of the complainants had first reported their concerns to the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and had approached Safe because their complaints were not acted on by MPI.
Speaking at an animal welfare forum in Wellington last week, Ashton said whistle-blowers were vital to preventing animal abuse on farms, but needed to be supported when they came forward.
‘‘Whistle-blowers have received death threats from farmers as a result of contacting MPI,’’ she said. ‘‘Whistle-blowers are heroes. If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t know half of what’s going on. However, what we’re hearing from people is they run the risk of losing their jobs, or could face threats from their employers, if they go to MPI.’’
A spokesperson for MPI said all animal welfare complaints were acted on and this usually involved an inspection of the farm and animals concerned.
Federated Farmers animal welfare spokesman Chris Lewis said all reports of animal cruelty were taken seriously and whistleblowers were able to remain anonymous.
‘‘If we get a report of abuse, it doesn’t matter where it’s come from or what the reason for the report is, we take it seriously,’’ he said.