It comes after People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) last week revealed it went to 11 farms and shearing sheds in New Zealand that produced ZQ-certified wool from 2023 to the end of last year and said this showed disturbing conduct, such as hitting sheep with objects or repeatedly slamming a sheep’s head into a board.
Peta yesterday sent a letter to Minister of Agriculture Todd McClay calling on him to take immediate action by mandating the installation of live-streaming web cameras in all shearing sheds across the country, including on ZQ-certified farms.
Peta senior vice-president Asia-Pacific Jason Baker said the step was essential for reasons of transparency and accountability.
"If the wool industry is confident that abuse is not systemic, web cameras provide an opportunity to prove it.
"Real-time monitoring would discourage abusive practices and ensure that farm owners are fully aware of what is occurring on their properties."
But Federated Farmers meat and wool chairman Toby Williams said the proposal amounted to an overreach.
"It would also be incredibly expensive and impractical given we have tens of thousands of woolsheds scattered across rural New Zealand with over 25million sheep shorn each year.
"I don't think Peta have really thought this idea through properly. Who would pay for the installation and maintenance of the cameras? And what is the problem they're trying to solve?"
Associate Agriculture Minister Andrew Hoggard said neither he nor his colleagues had "any appetite" for Peta’s proposal.
"There's roughly about 30,000 sheep and beef farms in the country, in theory. So that's a hell of a lot of cameras. Who the hell's monitoring them?
"So, from a practical point of view, it falls down even before you get to the philosophy of do we really want to be spying on citizens?"
Mr Hoggard said the Ministry for Primary Industries would investigate the complaints dispassionately.
However, he said the industry had many measures in place to address animal welfare concerns.
"No shearing gang's going to want to have a reputation that they do a poor job and they don't look after animal welfare, because then farmers are going to be less than reluctant to contract them in to look after their sheep.
"So there's a whole bunch of self-policing, effectively, that occurs through natural market forces."
New Zealand Shearers Contracting Association president Mark Barrowcliffe said he did not wish to comment about Peta’s proposal.
The organisation has released a statement on its website which said its members were "constantly monitoring the shearing practices of their highly trained and professional employees to ensure the highest standards of ethical and animal welfare practices are maintained".
"NZSCA are committed to investigating all allegations thoroughly and this is our priority and focus."
