Dr Michael Morris - Animal welfare writer Dr Michael Morris has a PhD in zoology from the University of Auckland. He is presently teaching degree courses in environmental management at the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic.

It's pleasing that local MP Simon Bridges supports tougher penalties for animal abusers; for too long, those causing quite considerable pain and suffering to intelligent and sentient creatures have got off far too lightly.

However, if Simon wishes to prevent animal abuse in our society, he needs to rethink his target. Yes, animals do suffer from sadists and psychopaths, and yes, there is a link between animal abuse and human abuse, but deliberate and sadistic treatment of animals actually makes up a very minor part of all animal abuse in this country.

How about the ritualistic and legally sanctioned abuse of 90 million broiler chickens, 60,000 pigs in sow crates and 2.8 million battery hens in New Zealand alone? Dr. John Webster, professor of animal welfare at Bristol University, described broiler chicken productions in terms of both numbers and severity as the "worst example of systematic inhumanity to another sentient being". A recent New Zealand study showed that up to 40 per cent of broiler chickens are in constant pain from lameness for the last week of their short, miserable lives.

And what about sows in crates and stalls? Sir Colin Spedding, former head of the UK Farm Animal Welfare Council, gave his considered opinion that these creatures, screaming, foaming at the mouth and chewing the bars of the cage – as we have all seen them do on television – are literally being driven insane. And there is no truth to the myth that farrowing crates are necessary to prevent sows from crushing their young. The study that this myth is based on was a comparison between sows in bare concrete pens.

Contented sows, kept on soft surfaces, where they are allowed to make nests, do not crush their piglets. Studies by internationally renowned animal welfare scientists have shown there is no difference in piglet mortality between countries where farrowing crates are banned and those where they are not.

Battery hens also suffer physical pain through osteoporosis, and again international animal welfare scientists like Ian Duncan and Michael Appleby have confirmed through rigorous scientific study what we all really know – that life in a cage is miserable for a hen. A recent New Zealand study, approved by the Egg Producers Federation, did attempt to prove the opposite, but its methodology was so shonky that no serious animal welfare scientist will treat it with any seriousness.

If we are looking at correlations between animal abuse and abuse of humans (and incidentally nobody has yet proved a causal relationship), then it is far more likely that the high levels of child abuse and partner abuse come about because of the way our society sanctions ritualised abuse of the powerless for profit, and not because of a few isolated incidences of sadism. Unlike the sadist or psychopath, the factory farmer is not punished far too leniently; he or she is not punished at all. In fact he or she is REWARDED for such inhumanity by increased profits, and those who have supported such an industry such as Peter O'Hara, are even given major awards in the New
Year's Honours List. What sort of message is that sending to the rest of society?

Simon would therefore be well advised not only to increase penalties for animal abuse that is already deemed unacceptable, but to expand the range of unacceptable practices.

Simon Bridges should consider supporting Sue Kedgley's Private Member's Bill totally banning sow stalls, farrowing crates and layer hen cages.
An additional Private Member's Bill should ban the fast growing breeds of broiler chickens that are susceptible to lameness. While we are at it, greater protection for animals subjected to "severe" or "very severe" suffering in laboratories is also overdue. Pain is no less painful simply because the abuse is occurring in a laboratory and not a dark alleyway.

I know this would cost more for industry, but doing the right thing always costs more. It costs more to pay workers a decent wage. It costs more to put in safety features in cars, roads and workplaces. It costs more to be satisfied with my salary and not to supplement it with illegal activities. It costs more to tell the truth when a lie would be more convenient. All these things cost more, yet our society expects them. Why do we not have the same expectations when it comes to animals?

Simon Bridges' Private Member's Bill is an important first step in treating animals with the respect they deserve. I encourage Simon to go further and use his influence in a positive way to help the weaker members of our society.