Tag Archives: oceania

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Cages behind 'one of Australia's worst animal welfare issues' to be banned

Barren battery cages, which are used to contain egg-laying hens, are set to be banned in Australia from 2036 in what the RSPCA is hailing a "significant win for animal welfare".

National Poultry Standards and Guidelines have today been finalised after being reviewed for more than seven years, with the new guidelines including a plan to phase out battery cages for layer hens by no later than 2036.

"This is a win for animal advocates and for the community, who have been calling for an end to these barren, wire cages for over 40 years," RSPCA Australia CEO Richard Mussell has said.

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Live chickens for sale are seen in a cage at a 'wet market' in Hong Kong

"But most importantly, it will eventually be a win for the millions of layer hens confined to battery cages."

Approximately 5.36 million layer hens were confined to cages in Australia in 2020 to 2021, representing 32 per cent of the country's hens, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data.

Mussell said the ban would "bring Australia into line" with more than 75 per cent of of Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries who have already moved to phase out battery cages.

RSPCA Australia chief science officer Dr Suzie Fowler has called use of the cages "one of the worst animal welfare issues in Australia right now".

"Good welfare simply can't be achieved in a battery cage because the animal welfare issues are inherent to the system itself – restricted movement, constantly standing on a wire floor, and no ability for a hen to perform natural behaviours like perching, nesting and stretching and flapping her wings," she said.

READ MORE: Doctor delayed antibiotics for dying Melbourne mum, court hears

People should wash their hands with soap after handling backyard chickens.

Mussell said there was no reasons for states and territories to wait for the national deadline of 2023, encouraging states and territories to implement an earlier phase out of the cages.

"The ACT did this in 2014 and we urge all state and territory governments to do the right thing and implement a phase out as soon as possible," he said.

Mussell said the delays in the process for getting the national ban implemented had exposed flaws in Australia's current approach to the developing and implementing animal welfare standards.

"These Poultry Standards and Guidelines were under review for nearly seven years. The phase out is the right result, and it should have been put in place six years ago," he said.

"Millions more layer hens have had to endure barren battery cages as a result of these delays."

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Doctor delayed antibiotics for dying Melbourne mum, court hears

Annie Moylan's obstetrician knew there was a golden hour for giving antibiotics for sepsis, but it still took longer for the pregnant mum to be given the drugs she needed.

The 37-year-old died from multi-organ failure caused by the infection within hours of delivering her baby stillborn and less than 24 hours after falling ill in August 2017.

Another obstetrician earlier prescribed rest and paracetamol when she reported gastroenteritis symptoms, but when her condition didn't improve Moylan went to Holmesglen Private Hospital.

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When her membranes spontaneously ruptured at 18 weeks, she was urgently transferred to St Vincent's Private Hospital where her own obstetrician Dr Vicki Nott was expected to meet her.

Dr Nott arrived about 1.30am – more than an hour after Moylan – and immediately diagnosed sepsis.

She told an inquest into Moylan's death on Thursday that there was a golden hour – a principle that antibiotics should be administered within an hour of a diagnosis of sepsis.

Dr Nott admitted prioritising the delivery of the baby over administering the antibiotics.

Moylan didn't receive her first dose until 2.46am.

The drugs were only given then when midwife Raechel Miller, who had been at Moylan's side since her arrival at 12.15am, noticed the syringe sitting on a bedside table.

She didn't know who ordered it or who put it there, but immediately questioned Dr Nott about whether it should be given and then administered the dose.

Miller said she questioned when Moylan arrived if she should even be there because she was so unwell.

"We would not normally have a patient appearing like that on the ward. I was wondering in my mind is this the place Annie should be," she said.

Nearly an hour later Miller found a syringe containing a dose of a second antibiotic that had not been given.

Moylan had already been transferred to theatre by then, said Ms Miller who wasn't aware the drug had even been ordered.

Moylan's father, retired GP Brian Moylan, acknowledged the distress the young midwife had experienced caring for his daughter.

Miller has since changed careers.

"Personally the impact of this event means that I have been unable to continue working as a midwife or a nurse, despite my efforts to do so," she said.

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"It was an incredibly traumatic experience."

In an expert opinion, Professor Mark Umstad said Moylan was displaying the classic symptoms of sepsis.

"There is an unexpected delay in commencing antibiotics in a timely manner, both at Holmesglen Private Hospital and on arrival at St Vincent's Private Hospital," he wrote in a submission to State Coroner John Cain.

"Given that Moylan was clearly septic and unwell I am unable to determine any reason for the delay."