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Several years ago, I heard an activist talk about the reaction she received when she was distributing free veggie dogs at a ball park. Some people said, “Eww. What’s in that?” to which she responded, “Grains, soy and vegetables, not to be confused with the lips and rectums in the other hot dogs.” In my 24/7 attempt to get people to eliminate or reduce their consumption of animals, I use that line all the time.  I wish, however, that I could use this video instead; pictures really do speak a thousand words. Not all hot dogs are made this way, but, hopefully, this footage will trigger some people to grill veggie dogs instead of mystery meat during their Labor Day BBQs.  Share it!

A bill to ban gestation crates, an intensive form of confinement for breeding pigs, did not pass Massachusetts.  In the National Hog Farmer, hog farmer Lisa Colby declared a victory for “the rights of local farmers,” stating “Massachusetts family farmers are relieved the legislature had the good sense not to waste time debating a law prohibiting farmers’ choices in taking care of their animals.”

Gestation Crates

Agribusiness owners, who describe themselves as “farmers” to garner public support, justify the use of extraordinarily cruel gestation crates for sows by claiming that they “allow for individualized care and eliminate aggression from other sows.”  This is the ultimate in hogwash.  “Individualized care?”  Sows locked in gestation crates are among the most abused animals on the planet.  “Eliminate aggression from other sows?” The sows are so stressed and traumatized by their inability to so much as turn around that they go insane, chewing on the metal bars that imprison them. Farm Sanctuary and other advocacy groups are supporting legislation at the state level to ban gestation crates.   Please see how you can help.

A pig attempts to escape from the truck taking her to a slaughterhouse.

If anyone doubts the intelligence of a pig, please show them this video.  Of course all farm animals, not just the smartest ones, should be free.  As 19th century philosopher Jeremy Bentham once stated, “The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?”

Undercover footage taken by Farm Watch shows dozens of rats crawling over living and deceased pigs in wet, filthy and cramped enclosures.  The fact that the meat from this farm is certified under New Zealand’s pork care label demonstrates that these labels are meaningless.  A TV news station in New Zealand ran an excellent in depth story about the farm, the regulators and the broken system.

Factory farms, or concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), are inherently inhumane because the animals are treated like commodities.  In CAFOs, pigs, chickens and cows are mutilated, confined, kidnapped, beaten and deprived of the ability to do anything that comes naturally to them.  If you oppose animal cruelty, then please go vegan and educate others about the horrors of factory farming.

In a thorough story about the pork industry’s slow phase out of gestation crates, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports on many aspects of the change, including the vast financial resources of large companies like Cargill, Smithfield Foods and Hormel  that will enable them to make the switch from crates to group pens; the concern among small contract farmers that the added expense won’t translate into added revenue; the risks and benefits of having pigs in group pens; and the growing demand from the public to eliminate the most intensive forms of confinement.  According to the National Pork Producers Association, about 20 percent of U.S. sows are in group sow housing; the rest are kept in crates.  “Gestation stalls became common in the 1970s and early 1980s, as hog producers got bigger and moved their animals indoors. The stalls generally measure 2 feet by 7 feet.  Canada recently banned the continuous housing of sows in gestation crates, following the European Union.” Dallas Hockman, industry relations VP at the National Pork Producers Council, defends the intensive confinement of sows, stating, “It’s not about right or wrong, it’s about choice. The type of housing does not dictate animal welfare.”

Gestation Crates

Thanks to undercover footage taken in concentrated animal feeding operations (aka factory farms), consumers largely oppose the intense confinement of the animals who they eat.  Of course, animal rights activists oppose it too.  The challenge we face as a community is whether or not we advocate for incremental reform, such as the change from crates to shared pens, or to push for the only humane option, which is the abolition of all forms of animal farming and slaughter.  Shared pens might be better, but they are still cruel, as they deprive the pigs from the opportunity to roam freely in the outdoors.   And the shift to pens from crates doesn’t change the fact that the piglets have their tails sliced off without anesthesia and that sick piglets are killed by slamming them against the floor. While we might disagree on strategy, we can agree on our message when consumers are listening — the eating animals in modern day times is inherently inhumane.