Pigs Are Pigs, Not Pork, Bacon And Ham

– Anthony Terry – 9/1/98

Today’s modern pig farms are tantamount to concentration camps where death is the only thing that brings relief. Many of the 800,000 pigs in New Zealand are kept in conditions far beyond what most people could think imaginable. Animal rights campaigners throughout the country have launched a campaign to highlight the cruelty and to help bring an end to their suffering.

‘The breeding sow should be thought of as a valuable piece of machinery whose function is to pump out baby pigs like a sausage machine.’

This is the sentiment of an American pig farming magazine and sadly many farmers around the world including New Zealand, have put this view into practice. Intensively farmed female breeding pigs are usually individually confined in small metal-barred stalls and must stand on a hard surface of concrete or wooden slats. They will remain imprisoned in this condition for the duration of their pregnancy, for around 4 months.

This confinement of not being able to turn around or exercise often causes skin wounds, foot damage and leg weakness causing considerable pain and discomfort. Abnormal stereotype behavior such as repetitive chewing on the bars and chains, head or full body rocking and physical mutilation are often typical signs of bored and frustrated animals.

When a sow is ready to give birth she is moved to an even more restricted metal-barred construction called a farrowing crate. Here she must give birth on the cold concrete floor and remain here for another month. She is forced to remain either standing or lying on her side while her piglets suckle through the bars. This, the industry claims, prevents her rolling on her young and killing them thereby reducing profit losses. Her natural maternal instinct to care and protect for her piglets is totally denied.

Piglets raised for slaughter are separated from their mothers at 3-4 weeks, though the natural weaning age is about 12 weeks. The sow is taken away to be made pregnant again, and is forced to produce as many piglets as possible until she is literally exhausted. The young pigs have their canine teeth trimmed and their tails docked to minimise abnormal “vices” that develop under intensive farming conditions, such as tail-biting and cannibalism. The males may also be castrated.

These industry mutilations are usually conducted without anaesthetic by people with no veterinary qualifications. Young pigs are kept in semi-darkness to minimise fighting and aggression caused through frustration due to their appalling conditions.

They will spend the next few weeks in these barren pens until they are around 8 weeks old. They are then moved to the main “fattening” pens where they are crowded together often with no bedding and little room to move. Drugs and antibiotics are routinely used to combat against disease that can run rampant. At 16-30 weeks, when pigs reach the farmers desired slaughter-weight, they are loaded on to trucks and transported to the slaughterhouse.

On average 800,000 pigs are slaughtered every year in New Zealand while some 50,000 sows are retained for breeding. Many suffer from pneumonia and most have leg and foot damage at the time of slaughter. Rough handling, sickness, leg weakness, unfamiliarity with daylight and other stresses related to transportation make this a traumatic experience on the ill-fated pigs destined to die.

On arrival at the slaughterhouse it is often found that many pigs have sustained such injuries during transport that they become crippled and can no longer walk. The remaining pigs are pre-stunned electrically with tongs clamped to their heads. While the minimum is 7 seconds to ensure a proper stun, some operators have been known to apply only a few seconds.

They are then shackled around their back leg and mechanically conveyed along towards the killing line to have their throats cut. Still kicking and writhing, they are thrust into a scalding tank to remove their bristles. Animals have remained conscious during this procedure due to the failure of workers to sufficiently pre-stun or cut their throats.

This article is republished with the permission of the author and the original publisher Presto. Anthony Terry is the National Co-ordinator of SAFE (Save Animals From Exploitation) in New Zealand.

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