What has Animal Liberation (SA) done?
Animal Liberation (SA) uses non-violent methods to change attitudes and behaviour of the public, laws affecting animals, and the policies of companies. Over the years we have campaigned on many issues, including:
In the 1980s, department stores in Adelaide all had fur departments and some held large fur sales. There were also several specialty fur shops, such as Stephen and Fabian Dattner's. Each year at the start of winter Animal Liberation held protests outside shops selling fur and called on them not to stock this cruel product. We paid to show an anti-fur advertisement in city cinemas, in which fur coats worn by models sprayed the audience with blood as the models swivelled on the cat walk. The aim was to show the reality of suffering behind the glamour. Fur coats and jackets are now out of fashion and there are no fur shops left, although we are still campaigning against fur trim.
In the 1980s and 1990s we campaigned against animals, especially exotic animals in circuses. Between performances elephants were chained
by the leg and monkeys and big cats were confined to their small travelling wagons. In 1988 we protested against the Moscow Circus, which had bears and big cats in tiny cages. There was also a detailed article in The Advertiser opposing the use of animals by the Moscow circus.
In 1994 we sent detailed submissions to all local councils in Adelaide, asking them not to lease land under their control to animal circuses. An AL member addressed Marion and Adelaide City Councils. Six councils including Marion, Noarlunga and Elizabeth imposed bans. The image (right) appeared in the Thebarton Times in November 1994 when Thebarton council banned animal circuses.
During this time a number of articles appeared in local papers, and there were also many letters to the editor over several months, supporting council bans on animal circuses.
In 1997 the SA government introduced a Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals in Circuses. According to the Code, elephants must be kept in enclosures surrounded by electric fencing, big cats must have exercise cages and monkeys must be have outside cages if travelling wagons are not large enough. These conditions are better than in the past, but don't alter the fact that a life of constant travel can't provide adequate conditons for animals. Fortunately human circuses have become more and more popular, as seen by the success of the brilliant Cirque du Soleil.
Animal Liberation (AL) has on a number of occasions entered factory farm sheds to document breaches of the law.
In 1997 AL discovered chickens in crates stacked in the sun on a particularly hot day at the Adelaide Poultry slaughterhouse. Some chickens had already died of heat stroke, and all were extremely distressed. Channel 7 filmed the event and the RSPCA prosecuted the company. Employees were filmed picking up chickens by the neck and throwing them, but they were not charged with cruelty.
In 2008, AL letterboxed 10,000 leaflets describing the cruelty of the chicken industry, and urging consumers to choose cruelty-free food instead of chicken.
A Channel 7 crew filming chickens stacked in the blazing sun in the middle of summer. The AL chicken letterbox leaflet.
In 1999 members of AL entered battery hen sheds owned by Golden Eggs. They filmed overcrowding in the cages and birds in poor condition. Footage was shown on TV news. The RSPCA took Golden Eggs to court.
AL took part in a major national campaign to ban battery cages, called Chook 2000. As part of this campaign, we delivered 2000 signed postcards to the then Minister for Primary Industries, Rob Kerin, asking him to make battery cages for laying hens illegal.
In 2007 AL was approached by a piggery worker from Ludvigsen Family Farms in the mid-north. This was after two other workers had made complaints to the RSPCA and one of these workers was sacked, but no legal action was taken against the piggery owner on the cruelty allegations. An AL member went to the piggery and gathered evidence, which was presented to the RSPCA. As a result charges were laid and the piggery owner pleaded guilty to three counts of failure to alleviate suffering. The suffering included chronic septic arthritis and a missing foot.
AL helped collect signatures on a massive Animals Australia petition to stop the live export of sheep. We have periodically held protests, calling for an end this cruel trade, and remembering particularly tragic events, such as the Uniceb catching fire and tens of thousands of sheep either burning to death or drowning.
Protest on the steps of Parliament House. Remembering sheep burned to death on the Uniceb: Professor Peter Singer (right) and Democrats Senator Andrew Bartlett (centre).
Cruelty-free living
AL promotes a cruelty-free lifestyle, so an important function is providing information to the public. We supply Preferred Product Lists, prepared by Choose Cruelty Free, to tell consumers which products are guaranteed not to be tested on animals. We supply information leaflets on how animals are treated in different industries, including which eggs are genuinely free range. We set up the Free Range Egg Production Audit Scheme (FREPAS), where participating egg producers are inspected by AL to make sure they meet high standards.
Library displays and stalls are important ways to provide information to the public on how to avoid cruelty.
AL sells vegan cookbooks and gives out recipe leaflets to help people change their diet. We also run cooking demonstrations to show people how tasty and easy a vegan diet is. We run a Pledge to be Veg, where participants pledge not to eat animal flesh for just 2 weeks, and in return we make a donation of their behalf to Edgar's Mission, a sanctuary for farm animals.
A cooking demonstration showing how easy it is to save lives through dietary change. People who take the Pledge to be Veg also help save farm animals at Edgar's Mission.
During the 1990s, AL regularly protested against jump racing outside the Oakbank race course at Easter. Many horses have been killed or injured during this race meeting, including the crowd favourites River Amos and Curl of Success, who were both destroyed on the track after breaking a leg in 1990. We also wrote letters to the state minister responsible for animal welfare and letters to the editor, calling for an end to this Russian Roulette with horses' lives and safety.
In 2009 we protested not only at Oakbank, but also at Morphettville and Murray Bridge when jump races were held, as well as on the steps of Parliament House. We joined the national Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses to stop jump racing in Victoria and South Australia, the only states where it is still allowed. We collected 5000 signatures on a petition, calling on the minister for racing to stop jump racing. The petition was presented to parliament by Greens MLC Mark Parnell.
Greens MLC Mark Parnell with a petition containing 5000 signatures against jump racing. The grim reaper attended the protest, together with people dressed as the 13 horses that were killed in Vic and SA on the track in 2009.
Duck shooting
In 1990 an AL member sat on a government task force investigating duck shooting, which resulted in the publication of the Stokes Report. The same member, Geoff Russell, produced a computer model of how shotguns work to show why duck shooters will always wound ducks. The computer model was published in an international journal. In 1999 Geoff produced his own report based on a wide range of research on duck shooting.
In the mid-1990s the Duck Defence Coalition was formed, with member societies being, AL SA, Australian Conservation Foundation (Adelaide), Bird Care and Conservation Society, Fauna Rescue, RSPCA (SA), Wilderness Society (SA) and the Animal Rights Resource Centre. The Coalition commissioned a Roy Morgan opinion poll in 1996, asking South Australians whether they approved or disapproved of shooting native ducks for sport. These were the results:
| Total | City | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Approve | 21.3% | 18.9% | 27.5% |
| Disapprove | 67.2% | 69.7% | 60.7% |
| Can't say | 11.5% | 11.4% | 11.8% |
The table shows that overall 3 times as many people disapproved as approved of duck shooting. Even in the country over twice as many people disapproved as approved. In 1996, the Duck Defence Coalition presented a petition with over 50,000 signatures to parliament, calling for a ban on duck shooting.
An AL duck rescue team at Bool Lagoon. A rescuer bringing in a wounded duck for vet treatment.
Throughout the 1990s, AL went to Bool Lagoon whenever it was open for shooting to rescue wounded ducks, who were given veterinary treatment. There was always good media coverage of our rescues, so the public was made aware of the cruelty involved in shooting.
In 2009/2010, leading up to the state election in March 2010, AL began a postcard campaign, directed to Labor and Liberal candidates in marginal electorates, where a few hundred votes could change the result. The postcards called on the candidates to ban duck shooting. Over 6700 postcards were signed and delivered to candidates. AL members also visited these candidates to explain the cruelty of duck shooting and to find out what the candidate's views were on the issue.
AL members have attended rodeos to video injuries and abuses that occur. The horse Coalminer's Daughter was filmed being taken off the 
arena with a broken leg and spinal injuries, no doubt to be later euthanased. Abuses that have been filmed include throwing sand into the face of a calf to make it easier to tie his legs and using an electric prod on the face of a bull in the shute to rev him up.
Some footage has resulted in prosecutions, for example, when a bull repeatedly reared in the shute and injured his jaw on the gate but was not removed from the shute. Some footage has been shown on TV, for example, when an injured steer hobbled from the arena on 3 legs but was not given veterinary attention. A rodeo performer was found guilty of assault against a protestor.
