Originally Posted by Nikki+2 (Post 2528394)

Oh Ann I don't know how you made it through that. I know how disturbing factory farming is- I've heard all the same horror stories I'm sure you have but reading your post made me sick (and teary). The good thing is knowledge of these situations is becoming more mainstream.

Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom (Post 2528421)

I don't know either, I had such a headache afterward from being so tense.

You're right, it is very hopeful that this is more in the mainstream than ever. Even though there were only 1 or 2 (think it was 1?) charges of guilty, for about $250 - it can still be seen as a success (sad as that is). The group who paid "Pete" (the investigator), the Humane Farming Association (HFA), viewed this small victory as a success.

Pete, at the end, was rather heartbroken that all of his work, risk, energy, and horrid memories only resulted in a $250 fine. However, he said there was no way he'd ever give up being a voice for animals, and would continue his work.

Originally Posted by Nancy1999 (Post 2528480)

In the ending credits, I think it said something about the pork association had to fork over $10,000 to help with the defense. I think this might also help persuade them to persuade farmers to be more humane.

Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom (Post 2528902)

Yep, you're right - the association took up donations so that the Wiles, the hog farm owners, would not have to shoulder any legal fees. You can imagine what I'd like to say about that....:rolleyes:

Originally Posted by Lou (Post 2529766)

Ann,
Thank you so much for bringing attention to this program. I can't bare to watch it but I am grateful for people like you who are brave enough to shoulder the sadness and grief. I know you didn't enjoy it and feel the urgent need to get the word out. You are a blessing to the rest of us!

Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom (Post 2528244)

I watched the whole thing and have been meaning to post about it, but ugh...it's just hard sometimes after seeing all of that.

Nancy, you missed what I thought was the absolute *worst* part of the footage. I'm going to describe it, not bc I'm trying to be morbid or graphic - but bc it was *the* piece of footage that confirmed to me that our current anti-cruelty laws are not well defined and are archaic. If you don't want to, don't read what I'm going to describe next...

Some of the baby piglets are not considered "good enough" to...continue...with life - often, they're considered too skinny and they are called "Skinnies". The farm owner's son, who was just sick imo, took this baby Skinny by the back 2 legs, and swung it up into the air in a circle and coming down hard so that its head hit the side of a table - trying to kill it. Without checking to see if he was successful, he tossed the piglet (about the size of a large yorkie) into a white bucket and walked off. "Pete", the investigator, waited some minutes and then walked over to the bucket and pointed his hidden camera into the bucket. The baby piglet was curled in the bottom of the bucket, twitching/convulsing - still alive. He was left there dying, in the bottom of that bucket of filth.

Next, the owner's son, with a smirk on his face (bc someone made a comment that maybe there was a better way to kill the piglets) - grabbed a hammer. He said he was going outside to bash-in the other piglets' heads with that hammer. They didn't show this footage, if there was any.

Even more upsetting, it is LEGAL to bash-in the head of a baby piglet to kill it. There were no charges brought for that footage, even though the baby was still ALIVE. I don't get that part at all. This showed me that our cruelty laws are absolutely outdated and ineffective as written -- they ENABLE cruelty.

Now for the "downed hog" - that is when a hog is sick and probably will die without vet care. NO vet care was provided. They moved these hogs into a "dying room" (basically) and just left them there - not providing ANY food or water. They would also sometimes let in healthy hogs, who would then CANNIBALIZE the downed/sick/dying hogs. They showed this on film.

Most confounding on that last part is that, even though it seemed, by LAW, that you MUST provide food/water - the charges against Ken Wiles (owner) for cruelty related to not providing these basics were given the verdict of not guilty.

There is so much more - including the disgusting enjoyment by the worker when they were hanging the hogs to kill them. They just stood around and watched these hanging, suffocating, flailing animals - some of them laughing afterward/during.

I fully understand that not all farms are like this - I get that; but many of them are - even the very farmers who were there to support the hog farmer said so on film - that it's "just the way it is".

Well for me, once again - it just proved beyond a doubt that "the way it is" just isn't good enough. :(

Originally Posted by yorkiekist (Post 2530395)

I went to a pig farm as part of a class I was taking....

I think that this undercover guy should have to visit a slaughter house. If he couldnt stomach the pig farm, he would never stomach a slaughter house. If he want s to see some cruelty of animals that are not dead yet, he needs to visit the slaughter house....

Originally Posted by yorkiegirl83 (Post 2531324)

I feel like the treatment of livestock animals is seriously so underexposed in this country so I am glad there are documentaries out there to shed light on the horrors that these poor animals suffer through.

I talk to my husband about this all the time as he still eats meat. It's not even that I'm against eating meat exactly, but it's more about the senseless suffering and all out cruel ways these animals are killed or disposed of.

Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom (Post 2531782)

I just wish we could find the way to better treatment of these animals who we force to PROVIDE us food. Nothing is impossible, and I hope we can get there someday.

Originally Posted by Lou (Post 2531995)

I'm in! But what and how? I think you have started us all down the path now where do we go?