An under-fire Southland slink skin factory owner has been ordered to freeze his operations.

Environment Southland has been granted interim enforcement orders by the Environment Court placing specific requirements on the Tuturau slink skin business NZAgri Development Limited and its owner Eddie Zhi (aka Da Cheng Zhi).

The processing facility collects and skins newborn or unborn lambs and calves that have died naturally, been stillborn, or died on-farm.

Environment Southland brought charges against Zhi and the company in January.

They related to the running of his Tuturau slink skin factory and allegedly occurred between August 1 and September 26 last year.

Six charges relate to discharges of blood, leachate and or contaminants to land in circumstances where they could enter water, while the seventh charge relates to failure to comply with abatement notices.

Now, the interim enforcement orders granted mean Zhi and his company have to cease receiving and processing any further carcasses, stop all unlawful discharges of contaminant, remove all carcasses and all containers storing minced carcasses and remove contaminated liquid from certain areas.

While Mr Zhi and his company were required to immediately cease receiving and processing carcasses, the remaining orders had to be complied with within 21 working days.

Environment Southland Compliance Manager Donna Ferguson said the council previously issued an abatement notice which was not complied with prompting them to apply for interim enforcement orders.

“Like all enforcement decisions, this was not taken lightly. It reflects the environmental harm and ongoing poor compliance at the site,” she said.

The interim enforcement orders were in place while court proceedings continued.

Southland District Council also laid charges against Mr Zhi and NZAgri Development Limited, and held interim enforcement orders which have been issued to Mr Zhi.