Water supply cut to Taisugar's Pingtung pig farm; rights advocates and scholars fear the pigs will suffer from lack of water

Earlier, Taisugar had declared its willingness to serve as the leader in friendly livestock farming in the country, and to make major changes to pig housing space; but recently, Taisugar's Wanluan Silin breeding farm in Pingtung had its water rights cut off for failing to submit an environmental protection plan for review. Now, in the height of summer, the pigs need large amounts of water. Can they make it through the scorching summer relying only on water tanker deliveries? Everything depends on Taisugar's and the Pingtung County Government's next moves.

"We support the government in administering according to law; after all, environmental protection measures are necessary; but it looks like a 'man-made disaster,' and in the end the animals are left to bear the suffering. That is truly infuriating!" said Chen Yu-min, director of the Animal Society Research Association. Taisugar knew long ago that it had to submit environmental protection-related plans for review. If it could not put forward the relevant plans, it should have rigorously faced production and marketing adjustment, stopped letting sows become pregnant and nurse in advance, and even moved the pigs to other farms, instead of continuing to raise them, causing the pigs to now face a water shortage.

Taisugar failed to implement and submit environmental protection plans for review, and was fined and had its water cut off by the Pingtung County Government

After Taisugar's Pingtung Liukuaicuo pig farm had its water rights cut off on March 1 this year for failing to implement the "Plan for Using Biogas Residue and Biogas Slurry as Farmland Fertilizer" and "Odor Improvement Measures for Livestock Farms," and after that farm gradually sold off its pigs, Taisugar's Wanluan Silin breeding farm in Pingtung had its water rights cut off on July 1 as well for failing to submit the "Plan for Using Biogas Residue and Biogas Slurry as Farmland Fertilizer" and the "Plan for Returning Livestock Wastewater to Farmland for Reuse" for review.

The matter of the water rights being cut off stems from "failure to implement and submit environmental protection plans for review." Zhang Jiahong, section chief of the Water Administration Section of the Water Resources Department of the Pingtung County Government, said Taisugar is a state-run enterprise and should take the lead in improving pig farms. If Taisugar does not improve, Pingtung County's air, wastewater and environmental protection will stagnate and be unable to progress, so submitting the relevant environmental protection plans for review is necessary; however, there is no other punitive measure for whether the plans are submitted for review, and only the administrative measure of "cutting off water rights" can be exercised.

Wu Zhaohong, deputy chief executive of Taisugar's Livestock Business Department, further explained that the current point of dispute between Taisugar and the county government is that Taisugar is not refusing to propose an environmental protection plan. "We will propose an overall environmental improvement plan in 2019." It is just that some parts of the plan cannot follow the county government's schedule, and "we will keep communicating with the county government."

Zhong Dehua, chief executive of Taisugar's Livestock Business Department, said that all the more than 16,000 large pigs and piglets currently being raised at the farm rely entirely on water tanker deliveries for their daily drinking water, buying in 2 to 3 water tankers per day (supplying about 60 to 90 metric tons), to ensure that each pig has an average of 5 liters of water per day to drink.

Animal protection advocates: Pigs need large amounts of water in summer, and pigs' rights should not be sacrificed

"No matter what the reason is, attention should be paid to the fact that cutting off water will harm the pigs!" With two Taisugar pig farms in a row having their water rights cut off, animal protection groups and Luo Lingling, head of the Department of Animal Science at Chinese Culture University, spoke out, saying that it is now the height of summer, when pigs need large amounts of water, but because of human failure to act, the pigs are suffering. This is extremely inappropriate. "Taisugar and the county government both use the people's money, and they should properly deal with these pigs."

"No water has too great an impact on pigs," Luo Lingling further said. Although Taisugar claims there are water tanker deliveries, "but is the water bought really enough?" If pigs lack water for 48 hours, the water deficit will basically reach 8% of body weight; when the water deficit reaches 10% of body weight, shock will occur. "Even if water is given again after the water shortage, water intoxication may still occur," causing the pigs to have difficulty moving.

Chen Yu-min even pointed out, "Lactating sows under hot summer temperatures need as much as 40 liters of water!" The matter of Taisugar's water rights being cut off seriously affects animal welfare. "The severity of cutting off water is far greater than cutting off electricity."

Taisugar: Will do its utmost to persuade the Pingtung County Government to restore water rights

In response, Zhang Jiahong said that, as he understands it, the Wanluan Silin breeding farm does indeed buy water from outside, "so there should be no situation where the animals have no water to drink." Zhong Dehua also said that the farm's current water volume is "fully supplied," and there is no problem with the pigs' drinking water. "The 5 liters is the average water supply for large pigs and piglets; the water supply for lactating sows is about 20 to 25 liters, and piglets basically do not need much water and mainly drink milk, so the overall water supply is sufficient." At this stage, "cleaning the pig housing" will also be temporarily listed as an unnecessary item.

Asked whether it is possible to relocate the pigs currently being raised at Taisugar's Wanluan Silin breeding farm, Wu Zhaohong said that Taisugar's pig farms in Pingtung currently no longer have enough space to accommodate these pigs. "The measure at this stage is to keep persuading the county government to restore the farm's water rights, and before the water rights are restored, we will keep buying water and supplying water."