S.P.C.A. hits drives

Press, 14 June 1978, Page 11

S.P.C.A. hits drives

The practice of driving large mobs of cattle from one district to another was creating feed problems, and attendant distress for the cattle, the annual conference of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was told in Nelson. The effects of the long summer drought were now being felt quite drastically in some parts of the North Island, and stock sold to areas with plenty of feed were being driven by road to avoid transport charges. The East Coast of the North Island had driven as many as 4000 head of cattle to Waikato — broken into mobs of about 700 for ease af handling. The S.P.C.A. president (Mr N. E. Wells) said that what feed there was available on the roadside was being eaten by the first mob. Those folowing had little or nothing. The society will investigate the new trend in shifting cattle, with a view co asking the Government to bring down regulations to safeguard the animals. Mr Wells, in his annual report, repeated the society’s

5 total opposition to the 1 export of livestock for 5 slaughter overseas. 1 There was no doubt that s the extreme stress caused on ; prolonged voyages where : animals were not properly

rested, fed, and watered was • undesirable, especially because New Zealand laws ; could not be enforced once stock shifts had left New Zealand waters, Mr Wells said.