Television ads telling viewers that sow stalls are cruel and inhumane have had an impact on Manitobans, said a Canadian Coalition for Farm Animals (CCFA) spokesperson.
“There’s been a very positive response to our ad,” said Stephanie Brown, a director for the CCFA, based in Toronto. “We want the people of Manitoba to be aware of the problem and we’re finding they aren’t aware.”
Since May 8, the CCFA and Canadians for Ethical Treatment of Food Animals have ran ads in Manitoba, including air time during the Stanley Cup Finals, depicting sows behind bars, as if the animals were in jail cells.
The ad’s narrator describes the sows’ living conditions and asks viewers to take a stance on this issue.
“Their hope for a kinder future rests with all of us,” the narrator says.
Earlier this year the Manitoba Pork Council released a long-term sustainability plan that encourages producers to phase out pregnant sow stalls by 2025.
The plan is a good step forward, Brown said, but the goal should be 2017, not 2025.
This is the first time the CCFA and CEFTA have bought TV time in Manitoba to highlight their concerns about gestation crates. But Brown said the ads aren’t connected to Manitoba’s provincial election this fall.
“It wasn’t the main reason we did it…. The timing is just happenstance, but it (the election) is relevant.”
The ad drives viewers to a website called www.helpthepigs.ca, which encourages visitors to take action in several ways, including donations, or by sending an e-mail to Michael McCain, the president of Maple Leaf Foods, or executives at Canada’s largest grocery store companies.
Last month, one of those companies, Loblaws, announced that all of its President Choice eggs would be cage-free by the end of 2011. Or, put another way, the eggs would come from farms that don’t house hens in battery cages.
Loblaws’ decision, Brown said, signals a major change in Canadian grocery store policies on animal welfare.
“Loblaws has taken an initiative when it comes to cage free eggs and I think they’re looking at some other issues as well, including sow stalls,” she said. “Once you get one grocer on side… there is a cascading effect.”
Loblaws hasn’t, so far, provided comment for this story.
The CCFA and CEFTA plan to run their sow stall ads in Manitoba throughout the summer.
