Pig-slaughter reports astonish Mayor

Press, 26 November 1979, Page 15

Pig-slaughter reports astonish Mayor

PA Auckland Allegations that some South Auckland residents are killing pigs in their backyards by having several people stand on planks put across the animals’ necks have “astonished” the Mayor of .Manukau City (Mr L. Elsmore). The accusations were made recently by the chief inspector of the SPCA (Mr R. Jones) who asserted that the animals were being slaughtered cruelly. Mr Jones said also that some pigs were thrown on to fires and then stabbed. A Manukau council bylaw adopted last year showed residents to kill “pigs on their properties, provided they do not cause a nuisance or create a health hazard. An attempt recently by the health and by-laws committee failed to get the by-law changed. Since then, the council has received many letters from people concerned that it could pass such a by-law. However, in the council’s defence. Mr Elsmore

said that it has received “only two or three” complaints about backyard slaughterings since the bylaw was passed. “It may he that the horrifying methods quoted by Mr Jones, which would certainly constitute a nuisance. have been used in the city, but they have never been the subject of complaint to the council.” said Mr Elsmore. He said that the city had more than a 30 per cent Polynesian and Maori population and it was a way of life for many of them to eat freshly killed pork on festive occasions. Church leaders and those of other Polynesian societies had been in close contact on the subject of pig killings, said Mr Elsmore. "I believe almost all the killings are now done outside the city’s urban areas,” he said. Mr Elsmore said that if Mr Jones’s allegations could be sustained the council would be “only too pleased” to support the S.P.C.A. in prosecutions.