Animal rights groups are applauding Walmart’s announcement of stricter farm animal welfare policies.
Leah Garces, USA director for the group Compassion in World Farming, says it marks “a historical tipping-point”.
“This is the largest retailer in the country and much of their merchandising is groceries. So the impact of such a market leader in taking farmer animal welfare so seriously, it really can’t be overstated,” Garces says. “It will mark a radical change and a tipping point for farm animal welfare.”
Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, calls Walmart’s announcement “game-changing progress” and says it “signals to agribusiness that the era of confining farm animals is ending”.
The National Pork Producers Council responded by applauding, what it calls “Walmart’s commitment to sustainable and responsible farming”. NPPC spokesman Dave Warner says that’s something that America’s pork producers do every single day.
“The specific policy that Walmart is asking its suppliers to adopt, we align pretty well with most of those,” Warner says.
Especially on the antibiotics issue, although Warner acknowledges some disagreement on the issue of sow housing.
“As the American Veterinary Medical Association and the Association of Swine Veterinarians found out, it’s not the housing system that insures the well-being of the animals, but the animal husbandry—that is the care that is given by the farmers and his or her workers to those animals,” he says.
But Warner says, for the most part, Walmart’s announcement is an affirmation of where the pork industry is already headed.