PETA Video Shows Pigs Abused At Iowa Farm
 

OMG I just read this article on CNN and I feel sick to my stomach. :( I LOVE pigs. They are gentle, intelligent little creatures and I can't imagine anyone willing hurting them like this and enjoying it!! BASTARDS!! :mad: :mad:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An undercover video taken at an Iowa pig farm shows workers hitting sows with metal rods, slamming piglets on a concrete floor and bragging about jamming rods up into sows' hindquarters.

On the video, obtained by The Associated Press, a supervisor tells an undercover investigator for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals that when he gets angry or a sow won't move, "I grab one of these rods and jam it in her [anus]."

The farm, located outside Bayard, Iowa, about 60 miles west of Des Moines, is a supplier to Hormel Foods of Austin, Minnesota. PETA wants to use the results of the investigation to pressure Hormel, the maker of Spam and other food products, to demand that its suppliers ensure humane treatment of pigs.

Hormel spokeswoman Julie Henderson Craven on Tuesday called the abuses "completely unacceptable."

The animal rights group also planned to send the video to the sheriff in Greene County, Iowa, seeking prosecution of 18 people on animal cruelty violations. According to PETA Vice President Bruce Friedrich, the video shows eight people directly abusing animals.

"Abuse on factory farms is the absolute norm, not the exception, and anyone eating factory-farmed meat is paying to support it," Friedrich said.

After getting a whistleblower complaint from someone inside the farm, PETA sent two undercover investigators to be hired at the farm and document its practices -- one from June 10 to September 8, and the other from July 23 to September 11.

At one point on the video, an employee shouts to an investigator, "Hurt 'em! There's nobody works for PETA out here. You know who PETA is?"

The undercover PETA investigator replies that he's heard of the group.

"I hate them. These [expletives] deserve to be hurt. Hurt, I say!," the employee yells as he hits a sow with a metal rod. "Hurt! Hurt! Hurt! Hurt! ... Take out your frustrations on 'em." He encourages the investigator to pretend that one of the pigs scared off a voluptuous and willing 17- or 18-year-old girl, and then beat the pig for it.

Records at the Greene County Assessor's Office show the property was owned by Natural Pork Production II LLP of Iowa until August 18, and then was transferred to MowMar LLP of Fairmont, Minnesota.

Lynn Becker, an owner of MowMar, called the abuses on the video "completely intolerable, reprehensible. We condemn these types of acts. If any animals were abused in the brief time we've owned the farm, if we still employ these people, any attempt will be made to investigate and initiate corrective action immediately."

Becker said his company provided animal welfare training to the staff when it took over the farm.

Natural Pork Production II referred questions to AMVC Management Services, which managed the farm under its ownership. Mark Jones, AMVC's network manager, said the video showed "unacceptable practices" and that his company is working with the new ownership to investigate.

Craven, the Hormel spokeswoman, said the farm became a Hormel supplier only after the change in ownership, and that MowMar "shares our commitment to animal welfare and humane handling."

Craven said it was her understanding that the abuses took place before the change in ownership. But PETA's Friedrich said the abuses continued, and that the new manager abused animals by shocking and kicking pigs.

Dr. Jennifer Greiner, a veterinarian and director of science and technology at the National Pork Producers Council, said the industry condemns "willful abuse" of pigs and that the video depicts acts that are not acceptable.

"Our industry is committed to handling pigs humanely," she said. "My industry is full of good people."

At one point in the video, workers are shown slamming piglets on the ground, a practice designed to instantly kill those baby pigs that aren't healthy enough. But on the video, the piglets are not killed instantly, and in a bloodied pile, some piglets can be seen wiggling vainly. The video also shows piglets being castrated, and having their tails cut off, without anesthesia.

Temple Grandin, a leading animal welfare expert who serves as a consultant to the livestock industry, said that while those are standard industry practices, the treatment of the sows on the video was far from it.

"This is atrocious animal abuse," Grandin said after PETA sent her the video. But she disagreed with PETA's contention that it was widespread in the industry.

"I've been on many good farms, and the pigs are handled gently," she said. "This was blatant, deliberate animal cruelty. These people are sick. They need to be prosecuted. There are certain people that enjoy hurting animals and they should not be working with them -- period."

One of the PETA investigators, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect his ability to do further undercover operations, said there was a culture of violence on the farm, and working there was an emotionally and physically exhausting experience that typically involved working 12-hour shifts and walking 15 miles a day.

"So many times, it took all of my willpower not to step up and do something," he said, adding that he also saw the supervisor shove a cane into a sow's vagina. "I was just shocked. What do you say to that?"

I heard this last night. Someone should ram something up that guy's anus.

I would never ever justify any animal abuse, but I am surprised by the number of people who did not know this is how pigs are treated. Granted I am in Iowa so hog farms are a common thing. And a sow will kill a grown man if she has the chance and he is trying to move her babies, they are intelligent but not always gentle. Thier instincts are similar to a human and they are very protective. I am told that when taking them to the slaughter house sometimes they even have heart attacks as you are unloading them like they know where they are and what is going to happen.
I did not see the video but I am guessing they were filming large hog confinements and not free range pigs, which are generally gentle and loving because they are not under stress. More scary than this is the amount of antibiotics and other drugs that the give the hogs to keep them alive in a hog confinement. It is not where they are meant to live so thier bodies can't take it and they get sick without the drugs, add in the drugs to fatten them up and get more meat on the market and it is of no surprise to me why humans are so sick with cancer and other immune diseases.

If anyone is interested in letting Hormel know how they feel about this article you can email them here: Hormel Foods > Contact Us
I took a look at the brands under Hormel and was surprised by how many there are. If you would like to avoid these brands you can find the list here: Hormel Foods > Our Brands

PETA has a letter you can use as is or use as a base for your letter. Take Action: Undercover Investigation Reveals Hormel Supplier Abusing Mother Pigs and Piglets

I don't buy anything from Hormel but thank you posting this! :thumbup:

LOL...one day I will learn not to click on any thread that has "PETA" in the title.:p

:eek::eek How horrible! I will never ever buy anything Hormel.

Well acording to PETA--and we all know how reliable they are, never blowing things out of proportion ;)--this is what happens on ALL factory farms. So you'd better cut meat out altogether. :rolleyes:

Thanks for posting this, JCarlson. The abuse/torture is absolutely atrocious. I can't even imagine what the footage must be like - or, what it must be like obtaining that footage for the PETA employee. Can you imagine living with that experience? I have to commend anyone who captures these abuses on film for the rest of us. I can barely watch it, but I can't imagine living with the actual experience. Horrible.

Shoving a cane into a sow's vagina? What sort of MONSTER does that? There just aren't words to properly describe how I feel about that kind of repugnant being. That kind of person is a danger to everything that exists, in my opinion. :(

This is also the case with beef. The chemicals pumped into them do cause cancer in humans. I've been cutting back eating any meat and now am down to almost no meat at all. I feel better and have more energy.

I agree. People that do things like this are absolutely disgusting. :thumbdown

Wow, that is so sad. It amazes me is how someone could do things like this and then go home and have a normal life.

I wonder that too. :confused:

I'm guessing someone with level of viciousness is going home and beating the wife and kids too. I can't imagine it's something you can just turn off.

Or maybe it's a total wuss taking his frustrations out on a defensless animal because at home his wife beats him. :p

I sure wouldn't mind giving him a few wacks.:p

Wow that angers me beyond words. Only monsters could do that

i agree ! :thumbdown:thumbdown:thumbdown

Me three:thumbdown:thumbdown:thumbdown:mad:

:(:(That's so mean, i hope he gets what he deserves for treating those pigs like that

I agree so much with you. I'm not crazy about some of the things PETA does or how fanatical they can be - but the things they expose are things we'd never know about... and I will always give them credit for that.

When they do undercover videos (I'm not watching but have seen some)...no one can dispute it. To me... if they get it on film - then that's what happened.. and I just can't believe how many ..disgusting.. cruel... absolutely coldblooded & evil things humans do to animals ...ON PURPOSE. :(

Just reading that article made me sick.

:D

Much like the way I feel about Oprah, lol, pretty much anything with PETA in it makes me much less receptive to it.
With that though, the whole shoving rods in innappropriate places is out of line and obviously the person that did that is very very sick. Unfortunately you do find people like that everywhere, not just on factory farms, but in everyday life. This kind of sickness isn't limited to *gasp* meat producers.
About the kicking and zapping, hitting etc, unless you have ever lived on a hog farm or worked on one, or have any experience with feeder pigs other than reading Charlotts Web, most people don't understand how difficult they are to handle. Granted, the claims in the PITA, oops I mean PETA :rolleyes: report are that the people were using these methods out of anger and aggression, but in day to day handling of pigs, prods and rods must be used at all times. Pigs are very intelligent, but can be very aggressive, and that is part of the reason why. They are intelligent, and heavier and stronger than people, so they can (and do) a lot of damage. Most of people's efforts to contain them leave them unphased as they are thick skinned and it takes much effort to get them to move. Mass produced cattle are treated no different, hence the name "cattle prod". If you don't like the way that animals are treated that are consumed, grow your own or don't eat meat. There is really no cutesy way to move them. Simply asking them to go to the next pen over, even if you say pretty please, just doesn't work. Leading them one by one individually is impossible.
Again, I do not condone the alleged actions of the individual with the insertive issues, but you would be a fool to believe that enormous animals that are mass produced for consumption are treated the way that you would treat a pet.

I agree completely. Did you know that Tyson, along with some other brands and store brands are now antibiotic free? I would like to know if any other chemicals are going into them though. Almost all milk here is hormone free as well.
I have a small store near me that is located on a big farm, and they sell all of their meat there. I know exactly where the meat is coming from and I see their animals. That makes me feel a little bit better.
I would like to greatly reduce the amount of meat we consume. Not for any other reason than just to be healthier. We are one of (if not, the only) country that meat is used daily as a main course in a meal. Most other countries use meat as a side dish. Of course we are the most overweight country and have the most heart disease, and I am wondering where we rank with cancers. Our bodies were not designed to injest that much meat daily, hormone or antibiotic treated or not. In Old Testament days, when people lived 200 years or so, meat was brought out for celebration or a feast of some sort, once in a great while, not several times a day.

It sounds like you've had experience with pigs while I haven't had one second around one - but to me - inflicting intense pain for the sake of fun is cruel and sick and I honestly dont think we can justify it in any way. If you really look at what those men were doing - they were doing it for their OWN fun and there's nothing to defend. Animals are at OUR mercy and there is a humane way to handle them and inhumane ....what's sad is we all know it's not just happening to one species.

I saw the best commercial about dog fighting last night...they had 'talking' (fighting) dogs with injected 'speech' ....and at the end.... one dog said

" Who's The Animal "? ......(meaning man)

You summed up my feelings PERFECTLY!:thumbup: Particularly regarding taking anything PETA backs with a grain of salt. (I'm going to have to find the article they released about AKC...shocking that anyone much less a united organization could feel that way.)
I didn't watch the video and have no desire to. I believe that the actions they claimed to have caught on tape are true, so I don't dispute it. I don't condone or believe that that type of treatment is at all neccessary and it quite distrubing. It makes me wonder, what is their REAL issue: The cruelty they uncovered, or that fact that animals are killed for human consumption at all? I suspect that if they had found that the animals were treated and killed as humanely as possible (which, given what they are, isn't going to be pleasant, anyway you put it) what kind of spin they would have put on the story then.

Exactly. They have an agenda, and they will use any legitimate abuse case and push their agenda with it. People will see that they were right about these pigs (pun intended, ha!), and take everything after that for truth as well. Its very unfortunate. Thats very similar to someone using abused children to push their political figure of choice, tsk tsk.

I don't get why every topic that even mentions PETA turns into "PETA is bad because..." It's unnecessary. It's repetitive and tacky. What's the point? I can only think it's done to stir the pot and evoke those who are PETA supporters.

You're aware of the issue and talking about it. Way to go, PETA. :)

ETA: I'm in no way a PETA supporter. I just think the turn every PETA-related thread takes is uncalled for.

That article disturbed me alot today. Alot.

Not that it was a certain species....but those men were enjoying it ...I can't wrap my mind around why someone would be that sick

I do see what you all are saying about PETA... ...but still....agenda or not - what they expose are things we would never hear about. (and they've been exposed for some things too) ....but, I would hope we never hear of PETA on the news torturing animals for the sake of fun

We call some animals "predators"... but 'man' is the biggest predator on the planet.

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

Whether people agree with their agenda or not, footage is footage - period. Cruelty is cruelty - period.

So true!