I recorded this show, and could only make it to the part where the pregnant pigs were in the tiny pens, and not allowed to move for months on end, and couldn't watch more; I had to fast forward to the court scene. I thought the court case was very interesting, watching the people watch the video of the pig being hung with a chain made me think that many of them thought this was abuse as well. I can't believe that we can't invent a relatively cheap, effective, and humane method of euthanasia. I'm not sure what a "down" pig means; I missed that part. I think it means, the pig isn't going to slaughter, but they have to kill it because of sickness. They have more rules for slaughtering pigs then they do for a down pig, and this is why they could hang a "down" pig. Methods for slaughtering have to be efficient and not cause undue suffering, but this isn't the case with a down pig. They lost this part of the judgment because one vet said that he didn't think it was undo suffering and he seemed to think the pigs died immediately but just continued to wiggle. I don't really believe his testimony and he seemed to have a really hard time watching the film. I think he knows that the pigs were still alive and feeling the pain for a long time. It did seem like some of observers enjoyed watching the pig wiggle and squirm. I've heard that some people use to really enjoy going to human hangings, and I hope this is not the case. This method of euthanasia should be outlawed in my opinion.
During the court case I saw them throwing the piglets into trucks, and I can't believe anyone could watch that and not think it's cruel, and thankfully the judge agreed, who by the way, was a farmer. I really felt bad for the investigator he clearly believes in what he is doing, this is a true mission for him, and I'm thankful that we have people like him. I was upset because in the courtroom the defense attorney tried to make the words "animal rights people" or "animal right activists", into a dirty word. This bothers me, I always believed I was for animal rights, but I definitely love my meat. I truly believe there can be humane ways to do this. I hate to see the country so divided on this, and it reminds me of the problems we have with puppy mills, you can raise conditions and be more humane, and still be allowed to breed.
I was glad to see in the ending credits, it said that the practice of penning the pregnant pigs in small cages side by side and not allowing them to move for months was outlawed in 2 states, Arizona, and California. |