Pigs pay a high price for people's choice to eat pork, bacon or ham.
Piglets are born into an environment of concrete and steel. Photos Tania Jamison and Elio Celotto
Piglets come into the world on concrete, surrounded by metal bars in a farrowing crate. The heavily pregnant mother pig (sow) has to lie on cold, hard concrete to give birth and to nurse her babies. The pen is so small that she can only stand up and lie down. She is imprisoned in this cage until the babies are taken away at about 3 weeks of age. In nature, sows collect grass and twigs to make a soft nest for themselves and their babies.
Piglets can be castrated (PETA) and have their teeth clipped (Tania Jamison) without any pain relief.
A number of painful mutilations are allowed to be carried out on piglets in their first days of life. Tails can be cut off to reduce tail biting, which becomes a problem when piglets are crowded and have no straw or soil to play with. Male piglets can be castrated. Piglets may have the tip of their needle teeth cut off with clippers, and pieces can be cut out of their ears for identification. All these mutilations are carried out without any anaesthetic or pain relief and cause great suffering.
Piglets are taken away from their mothers at about 3 weeks of age. These youngsters are naturally active, playful animals, yet they are allowed to be kept in crowded bare pens where there is nothing to do. A 70kg pig, the size of an adult human, only has to be given a space of 0.52m2 according to the Code of Practice. This is like 17 adults having to live permanently in a small room 3m by 3m, which isn't much of a life.
Although some piglets are now raised in clearspan shelters, it is still legal to keep them in crowded indoor pens (Elio Celotto)
Once their piglets are taken away, sows are returned to sow stalls or crowded pens for their next pregnancy. A sow stall is surrounded by metal bars and is only just large enough for the pig to stand up and lie down. She can never turn around and can walk no more than 1 step forward or backward. Sow stalls have been banned in several countries, but not in Australia. The hard floor and lack of exercise makes many pigs lame. Sows also develop psychological problems in the bare conditions, expressed as abnormal behaviour like chewing bars. Sows spend one pregnancy after another in these confined conditions, until they get sick, lame or fail to get pregnant quickly enough, when they are sent to slaughter.
Pigs are intelligent animals who become bored and develop abnormal behaviour in bare cages (Farm Sanctuary).
When they are 4-6 months old, piglets are herded onto trucks and sent to slaughter. The noise and movement of transport is very stressful, and pigs can suffer from travel sickness. At the slaughterhouse the pigs are stunned by an electrical current between the ears. They are then hoisted by the back legs and their throat is cut. The bodies are passed through a scalding tank to remove the hair, so that the skin can be made into leather for belts and wallets.
The throats of unconscious pigs being cut, and dead pigs being scalded to remove hair before skinning (PETA).
You can take a stand against crueltyevery time you choose a meal that doesn't include animals. Try the not-pork kebabs.
Fast facts
- In 2006/7, 5.3 million pigs were slaughtered in Australia.
- Over 10% of piglets die before they are weaned.
- Sows are very large animals, yet farrowing crates have to be only 0.5m by 2.2m and sow stalls 0.6m by 2.2m.
- Even in group pens sows have to be given only 1.4m2 per animal.
Have a look at the following photogalleries
Download:
- Leaflet: Treat your dog this way you'll end up in court
- Factsheet: You wouldn't do it to a dog: life in intensive piggeries (6 pages plus references).
May 2010
