Chandigarh Becomes 24th State or Union Territory to Prohibit Confining Mother Pigs to Crates Following Push From PETA India
Following an appeal by PETA India to prohibit the manufacture, sale, and use of gestation and farrowing crates in pig farming, the director of Chandigarh Department of Animal Husbandry & Fisheries has circulated an order instructing the veterinary officer and the honorary general secretary-cum-MOH of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to comply with the law that mandates this prohibition.
The circular cites Section 11(1)(e) of The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, which prohibits the confinement of any animal in a receptacle that fails to offer a reasonable opportunity for movement, such as gestation and farrowing crates. The circular reiterates that, as confirmed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research’s National Research Centre on Pig, the Act must be adhered to. Furthermore, it urges penal action against farmers or piggeries using gestation and farrowing crates.
Chandigarh is among 24 states and union territories to issue directions against the housing of pigs in these contraptions. Other governments that have issued circulars include Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat ,Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.
Gestation crates (aka “sow stalls”) are metal cages, essentially the size of a pig, with concrete or slatted floors. In them, pigs are unable to turn around or even stand up without difficulty. These devices confine pregnant sows, who are typically transferred to farrowing crates to give birth and are kept in them until their piglets are taken away. Farrowing crates are fundamentally the same as gestation crates, except that they contain small side compartments for piglets.
Gestation and farrowing crates deny mother pigs everything that’s natural and important to them, such as opportunities to forage, build a nest for their young, socialise with other pigs, and regulate their body temperature (such as by wallowing in mud). The extreme stress and frustration caused by this severe confinement results in abnormal behaviour, such as continually biting at the enclosure bars or “chewing” the air.
In 2022, the Chandigarh administration issued a comprehensive notification to address the dangers posed to birds and humans by sharp kite-flying threads and mandated that kite-flying be done with plain cotton thread only.
