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Vets slam government handouts to Mars pet food amid animal welfare concerns at Wodonga factory

Vets Lonsdale and Muir

Key Facts:

The junk pet food industry began in London in the 1860s when Jack Spratt teamed up with Charles Cruft to market their Wheat Fibrine Dog Cakes. Using pedigree dog shows as a prime marketing tool they developed and controlled a culture promoting dog ownership and the feeding of processed junk to modified wolves.

Fast forward to the 1960s Australia and the Mars organisation used the same play book. John Mars flew into Australia and set up his factory in Wodonga, Victoria. Simultaneously he established the front organisation Petcare Information and Advisory Service (PIAS). PIAS infiltrated all branches of the media, print, radio, TV and the veterinary profession.

Soon information channels were full of Mars propaganda. Australian culture was manipulated to ensure high level pet ownership and the feeding of junk products—principally Mars ultra-processed junk.

Naturally enough, a population of modified wolves fed an entirely unsuitable diet succumbs to a range of chronic and acute diseases—grist for the veterinary profession mill. The so-called animal welfare organisations are fed hush money and stay silent. 

Government is like the three wise monkeys that ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’. And as we see in the latest debacle hand over $millions of dollars to the Mars behemoth to enable further propaganda output and resultant devastating effects on pet health and Australian consumers.

Dear Prime Minister,

Please see attached documents and letter (below) regarding the Senate Pet ‘Food’ Inquiry circulated to all Members of Parliament in June 2018.

• It is with grave concern that we write to you regarding your photo-op at the Mars factory in Wodonga, where it was reported that the Federal and Victorian governments have given many millions of dollars of Australian taxpayer funds to companies operated or ultimately controlled by the secretive Mars family, known to be one of the wealthiest families in the world.
• On the evidence presented to you on multiple occasions and extensive further evidence available at www.thepetfoodcon.com it seems to us that the Mars organisation should be investigated for animal cruelty and consumer fraud.
• Do government handouts to companies operated or ultimately controlled by the Mars family—labelled ‘commercial in confidence’ for vast undisclosed sums—cast you and the Australian and Victorian governments as co-conspirators?
• We reject the notion that vast sums can be donated to companies operated or controlled by billionaires and the details kept from the Australian public due claimed ‘commercial in confidence’. In the interests of transparency please make a full disclosure.
• We believe that this unfortunate episode and the junk pet food fraud more generally should be the subject of a judicial inquiry. Please advise.

Thank you for your attention to these matters.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Tom Lonsdale BVetMed, MRCVS and Dr Breck Muir BVSc (Sydney 1964)

CC: Interested parties

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Date: 09:22 PM 27/06/2018

From: Tom Lonsdale [email protected]

To: [email protected] [email protected];

Subject: Senate Pet 'Food' Inquiry

Attached: C:\common\working\My eBooks\Raw Meaty Bones-Rivetco.pdf; C:\common\working\Correspondence\2018\06\AttorneyGen.pdf;

Dear Mr Albanese,

Kitty, twelve-year-old Pomeranian victim of Mars Inc., tortured every day of her miserable life.

 

Senator Griff, in his press release says: ‘It’s the old Dracula in charge of the blood bank problem.’ He's referring to the multi-national pet-food makers—Mars Inc., Nestlé and Colgate-Palmolive. Of course, the Australian Government needs to be concerned about the activities of multi-national corporations.

But it's Dracula's collaborators that should concern us most—the organised vet profession, RSPCA and various front organisations that hide in plain sight, doing the bidding of the multi-nationals.

Back in 1966, the Mars Corporation established their propaganda outfit, Petcare Information and Advisory Service, with the specific aim of encouraging Australians to keep pets (furry toys) and to feed them furry toy formula packaged conveniently in cans and packets. Progressively Mars, Nestlé and Colgate suborned elements of the vet profession, animal welfare groups, media and government departments.

Mass ill-health, mass suffering is now the norm. An army of vets pursue self-interest treating, but never preventing, the epidemics of processed food induced disease. Australian consumers and taxpayers pay the bills. Pets pay with their lives.

The Senate Inquiry is entitled: Regulatory approaches to ensure the safety of pet food. These days the term 'pet food' means the industrial stuff on the supermarket shelves—stuff bearing no resemblance to the food of free living dogs and cats.

How did we get to the point where we dignify grain-based junk in a bag or can as 'food' fit for carnivores?

Please ask yourself how something that devastates pet health can be regulated to be made 'safe'?

For answers please see attached copy of Raw Meaty Bones and the Open Letter to NSW Attorney General.

The video of Wally the 8-year-old Maltese dog tortured within an inch of his life by a diet of Mars 'My Dog' provides graphic evidence of pet suffering.

Please help shine a light on the multi-national pet-food makers and their collaborators. Please ensure that the Australian Government takes responsibility and addresses the $multi-billion scandal for the benefit of pets, pet owners and the wider society. 

We shall be pleased to provide further information and answer questions as you may require.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Tom Lonsdale BVetMed, MRCVS

Bligh Park Pet Health Centre
48 Rifle Range Road
Bligh Park NSW 2756

Tel: 02 4577 7061
Email: [email protected]
www.rawmeatybones.com
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Dr Breck Muir BVSc (Sydney 1964)
282 Diamond Beach Road
Diamond Beach NSW 2430

Mob: 0418 468 107
Email: [email protected]
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About us:

Dr Tom Lonsdale BVetMed, MRCVS graduated from the Royal Veterinary College, University of London in 1972. Dr Breck Muir BVSc graduated from the University of Sydney in 1964. Together we have 114 years of experience. We first blew the whistle on the veterinary-junk pet food industrial complex in 1991. https://rawmeatybones.com/newsletters/11-1%20Dec%202011%20-%2020th%20Anniversary.pdf We believe a judicial inquiry with full subpoena powers must be instituted to investigate the systemic animal cruelty, widespread consumer fraud and government maladministration. 

Contact details:

Dr Tom Lonsdale [email protected] Mob: 0437 292 800

Dr Breck Muir [email protected] Mob: 0418 468 107

London agents: [email protected]