CBC photoWe're a little hypocritical about animal cruelty in this country. We can get very wound up when we read about someone abusing their pet dog or cat, right up to threatening that person with death.
But most of us don't summon the same level of outrage when appalling examples of livestock being mistreated on factory farms comes to light.
The cattle, the pigs, the chickens, they're not our home companions. They're meat on our table, and the cheaper the better. We don't much concern ourselves about their lives before they get there. That's the government's job, right?
This latest story, revealed by CTV's investigative public affairs program W5, shows a Manitoba pig-breeding operation where sows spend their lives in tiny crates, are repeatedly impregnated to produce litters until they can't anymore, then unceremoniously killed. Employees cull defective piglets by smashing their heads against something hard.
Cruel, yes. But apparently not against the law. Saturday's W5 segment uses video footage shot secretly by an animal-welfare investigator to expose conditions in the Puratone facility just north of Winnipeg.
In a story on W5's web site, reporter Tom Kennedy writes that after viewing the video, Barbara Cartwright, chief executive officer of Canada's Federation of Humane Societies, predicted Canadians were in for a shock.
"They are not used to seeing this," she said. "They still believe animals are being raised in the old farm style."
The reality couldn't be more different, Kennedy writes.
"The video shows what amounts to a living production line with thousands of pregnant sows, each held in a tiny metal stall where they will spend the nearly four months of their gestation," he reports.
"When they are ready, they are transferred to a slightly larger stall called a farrowing crate where they will give birth. After three weeks, the piglets are then sent away for fattening and eventual slaughter while the sows are returned to the gestation crates, re-impregnated to start the cycle again
Why, the price for humanly raising them; it would be outrages,
We are truly an abysmal species these days - profit above all else - who cares about the immense suffering that we so callously and cruelly inflict on other life forms.
But I also have to disagree with the writer of that column about how he and everyone else still care about pet abuse. These are his words:
"a Manitoba pig-breeding operation where sows spend their lives in tiny crates, are repeatedly impregnated to produce litters until they can't anymore, then unceremoniously killed. Employees cull defective piglets by smashing their heads against something hard."
Hasn't he or anyone else heard about Canadian and American Puppy Mills and Dog Fighting Rings??!!
In Puppy Mills, 'Breeder Bitches' spend their entire lives in tiny crates, are repeatedly impregnated to produce litters until they can't anymore, then unceremoniously killed.
And in massive dog fighting rings, even in Pro Football's Michael Vick's abysmal profit making operation, he and his employees culled defective dogs who refused to fight by smashing their heads in, hanging them, and even electrocuting them.
Reviewed by Diana Legun (Reader)
Reviewed on December 9, 2012
I think vegetarian training should start in high school. More important than algebra and Home Ec. ~~ Diana
sigh...you know how I feel
and that is if people had to hunt &
kill their own animal, they may become
a vegetarian. All animals deserve respect.
Even the awesome Pork Busters!
My Grandmother had a "Pet Pig"
it's an unusual pet, but it was also a cool pet
we also had a pet possum...yeah in the house :)
sighhhhh what to do what to do what to do...
This is my personal inspirational book of poetry. It contains many poems written for family, friends, and relevant life situations. Hopefully you will find some that will encourage and inpsire you in whatever arena you are found in your circle of l
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But I also have to disagree with the writer of that column about how he and everyone else still care about pet abuse. These are his words:
"a Manitoba pig-breeding operation where sows spend their lives in tiny crates, are repeatedly impregnated to produce litters until they can't anymore, then unceremoniously killed. Employees cull defective piglets by smashing their heads against something hard."
Hasn't he or anyone else heard about Canadian and American Puppy Mills and Dog Fighting Rings??!!
In Puppy Mills, 'Breeder Bitches' spend their entire lives in tiny crates, are repeatedly impregnated to produce litters until they can't anymore, then unceremoniously killed.
And in massive dog fighting rings, even in Pro Football's Michael Vick's abysmal profit making operation, he and his employees culled defective dogs who refused to fight by smashing their heads in, hanging them, and even electrocuting them.
and that is if people had to hunt &
kill their own animal, they may become
a vegetarian. All animals deserve respect.
Even the awesome Pork Busters!
My Grandmother had a "Pet Pig"
it's an unusual pet, but it was also a cool pet
we also had a pet possum...yeah in the house :)
sighhhhh what to do what to do what to do...
Temple Gradin & The New Hugging Machine
Vickie