PIGS
Corporate hog factories are rapidly replacing traditional hog farms.
Annually 100 million pigs are raised & slaughtered in the U.S. Baby pigs
endure painful mutilations of having their tails cut off to minimize tail
biting. Tail biting occurs when these intelligent animals are confined
throughout their lives in Factory Farms. Notches are cut from the piglets'
ears, an equally painful procedure, for identification purposes.
15% of the piglets die before three weeks of age. The survivors are taken
away from their mothers & crowded into pens with metal bars & concrete
floors & live this way until they reach a slaughter weight of 250 pounds
at 6 months old.
Respiratory disease is rampant among pigs, which is caused by the noxious
gases in the air produced as the animals' urine & feces build up inside
the sheds.
Modern breeding sows live a continuous cycle of impregnation & birth, each
sow giving birth to more than 20 piglets per year. The pregnant sows are
confined in gestation crates, small metal pens just two feet wide...so small
that sows cannot turn around or even lie down comfortably. After four month
pregnancies they are transferred to cramped farrowing crates to give birth.
They can barely stand up or lie down & have no bedding, which cause many
to develop sores on their shoulders & knees from the constant contact with
the concrete floors. Sows nurse their young for two to three weeks, then the
piglets are taken away, & the sows are re-impregnated. The sow is sent to
slaughter when she can no longer produce.
Sows & pigs also endure suffering from extreme crowding during
transportation. Each year, this over crowding results in an estimated
80,000 pig deaths before arriving at the slaugherhouse.
The federal Humane Slaughter Act requires that pigs be 'stunned' &
rendered unconscious prior to slaughter. However, stunning is often
imprecise & these conscious animals, hanging upside down by their back
legs, are kicking & struggling. The next stop is for a worker to 'stick'
them in the neck with a knife to bleed the pig to death. If the worker is
unsuccessful, the pig will be carried to the next station on the
slaughterhouse assembly line, & dropped into the scalding tank, where
he/she will be boiled to death, while fully conscious.
Sows in confinement are reported to suffer severe physical & psychological
damage. They suffer from obesity & crippling leg disorders & experience
neurotic coping behaviors such as repetitive bar biting & sham chewing
(chewing nothing).
Read "The Hidden Lives of Pigs." - They are
intelligent, friendly, social
animals.
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C
OMPASSIONATE
C
ARNIVORES
™
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