\u201cWe are elated four people are charged,\u201d Baker told RNZ.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut this is just 32 sheds. There\u2019s a thousand other sheds out there that we weren\u2019t in and this is standard industry practice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peta\u2019s investigators spent a total of five months inside woolsheds across New Zealand, eventually handing authorities more than 230 video files.<\/p>\n
Baker said they deliberately delayed reporting to build a picture of systemic behaviour rather than isolated incidents.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople have sometimes asked why we didn\u2019t report it in the first shed we were in, but we had to document to show that it was standard industry practice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among the 32 sheds investigated, 11 held ZQ accreditation \u2013 a New Zealand certification intended to assure ethical wool production which describes itself as the \u201cworld\u2019s leading ethical wool brand\u201d.<\/p>\n
The footage showed no difference in treatment between accredited and non-accredited operations, Baker said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you look behind the curtain, you see the same thing in ZQ sheds as you see in other sheds \u2013 punching, kicking, stomping, animals cut up, animals dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement, MPI director of investigations and compliance support Gary Orr said the ministry had identified eight individuals for further investigation, four of whom have already been charged.<\/p>\n
\u201cA warrant to arrest one of the four charged individuals has been issued. We are continuing our inquiries into other related animal welfare matters,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The footage Peta provided fell short of the standard expected of those responsible for animals, Orr said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople in charge of animals have a responsibility to make sure they are being cared for properly.\u201d<\/p>\n
In December, the Government and the shearing industry announced a $75,000 programme to improve animal welfare in the industry.<\/p>\n
The programme supports targeted training initiatives to build knowledge, skills and best practice in animal care and welfare compliance in the shearing industry, the ministry said.<\/p>\n
Baker was dismissive of the move.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t need $75,000 to be kind to animals. You really don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said if the Government wanted to put its money where its mouth was, it should mandate cameras inside woolsheds and place veterinarians on site.<\/p>\n
At the time of the announcement, New Zealand Shearing Contractors Association chief executive Phil Holden said the idea of cameras in shearing sheds was a \u201cnaive response to what\u2019s a more complicated issue\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reality is we\u2019ve got nothing to hide. The industry is in a real solid place and this animal welfare initiative is another step on the journey,\u201d Holden said.<\/p>\n
The SPCA has also backed calls for camera surveillance in shearing sheds.<\/p>\n
Chief scientific officer Dr Arnja Dale said at the time that she would be \u201creally disappointed\u201d if the welfare training was the Government\u2019s only response to the damning expos\u00e9.<\/p>\n
\u2013 RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe are elated four people are charged,\u201d Baker told RNZ. \u201cBut this is just 32 sheds. There\u2019s a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397941,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1903,74,1873,9881,19473,55605,194,55606,111,43,139,69,1118,143142,12969,5348,17293],"class_list":["post-397940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-abuse","tag-after","tag-charges","tag-facing","tag-footage","tag-keiller","tag-kiwi","tag-macduff","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-shearers","tag-sheep","tag-showing","tag-uncovered"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}