DawnWatch: NY Times on pig welfare, and welfare scams in Guardian 3/13 — 3/14/07
March 14th, 2007 8:12 pm by Kelly Garbato———- Forwarded message ———-
From: DawnWatch – news [at] dawnwatch.com
Date: Mar 14, 2007 6:39 PM
Subject: DawnWatch: NY Times on pig welfare, and welfare scams in Guardian 3/13 — 3/14/07
The Wednesday, March 14, New York Times includes an op-ed, by Nicolette Hahn Niman, headed “Pig Out.” It is about the treatment of pigs being raised for human food.
Niman opens:
“With some fanfare, the world’s largest pork producer, Smithfield Foods, recently announced that it intended to phase out certain cages for its breeding females. Called gestation crates, the cages virtually immobilize pigs during their pregnancies in metal stalls so narrow they are unable to turn around.
“Numerous studies have documented crated sows exhibiting behavior characteristic of humans with severe depression and mental illness. Getting rid of gestation crates (already on their way out in the European Union) is welcome and long overdue, but more action is needed to end inhumane conditions at America’s hog farms.
“Of the 60 million pigs in the United States, over 95 percent are continuously confined in metal buildings, including the almost five million sows in crates. In such setups, feed is automatically delivered to animals who are forced to urinate and defecate where they eat and sleep. Their waste festers in large pits a few feet below their hooves. Intense ammonia and hydrogen sulfide fumes from these pits fill pigs’ lungs and sensitive nostrils. No straw is provided to the animals because that would gum up the works (as it would if you tossed straw into your toilet).
“In my work as an environmental lawyer, I’ve toured a dozen hog confinement operations and seen hundreds from the outside. My task was to evaluate their polluting potential, which was considerable. But what haunted me was the miserable creatures inside.
“They were crowded into pens and cages, never allowed outdoors, and never even provided a soft place to lie down. Their tails had been cut off without anesthetic.
Niman writes that “phasing out gestation crates does not go nearly far enough. Keeping animals in such barren environments is a serious deprivation. Pigs in nature are active, curious creatures that typically spend 10 hours a day foraging, rooting and roaming.”
She refers to the Humane Slaughter Act of 1958, and then says that Americans “want animals to be humanely treated throughout their lives, not just at slaughter.” She suggests, “To ensure this, Congress should ban gestation crates altogether and mandate that animal anti-cruelty laws be applied to farm animals.”
And she ends with:
“As a cattle rancher, I am comfortable raising animals for human consumption, but they should not be made to suffer. Because we ask the ultimate sacrifice of these creatures, it is incumbent on us to ensure that they have decent lives. Let us view the elimination of gestation crates as just a small first step in the right direction. ”
You’ll find the whole piece on line here.
It is a wonderful op-ed, making an important point. Gestation crates are abhorrent and must be banned. (Peter Singer and I had an op-ed making that point in the Los Angeles Times — see www.DawnWatch.com/oped-june8-2003.htm.) But during the piece, Niman makes an important disclosure: her husband founded “a network of farms that raise pigs using traditional, non-confinement methods.” If her family did not raise pigs, she might trust less in 1958 Humane Slaughter Act, and might be aware that even since it was introduced there has been much documentation of pigs suffering unconscionable fates at slaughterhouses. Those who are improperly stunned are sometimes boiled alive. While people take comfort in knowing that animals are supposed to be stunned before being hacked to bits, few know that a 95% success rate on the first stun attempt is considered acceptable, so thousands of animals every day may be strung up by one leg and carried along a trolley towards the kill floor while totally conscious. They may or may not be successfully stunned on the second attempt before their throats are slashed, their hooves are cut off and they are boiled.
It is perhaps serendipitous timing that Niman’s piece, which suggests that humane farming standards are the perfect solution to the problem of animal suffering, has appeared a day after we saw an article, by Rebecca Smithers, in the March 13 UK Guardian, headed “Film shows neglect of pigs, turkeys and ducks sold under ethical label: ITV inquiry highlights maltreatment at farms: RSPCA ‘needs more staff’ for Freedom Food scheme.” (P13)
It opens:
“Popular ethical food labels which claim to reassure consumers of high standards of animal welfare are criticised tonight in a TV programme which shows shocking scenes of neglect on some farms including ducks being punched, kicked and thrown around by staff.
“Among the brands singled out is the Freedom Food scheme, launched by Britain’s largest animal welfare organisation, the RSPCA , and used to certify meat products sold at a premium through Britain’s main supermarket chains.
“Secret filming at one Norfolk farm which claims to operate ‘the very highest standards of welfare’ and participates in the Freedom Food scheme, reveals numerous injured and diseased turkeys, with sightings last month of rotting corpses in a ‘dead bin’ which was not sealed, in breach of the government’s emergency control order .
We read:
“The latest filming shows … several dead ducks which appear not to have been removed properly – including one that looks flattened – alongside filthy drinking water and a distressed duck suffering from torticollis, a condition involving a twisted neck.
And we read:
“The stills of footage last autumn show ducks being rounded up and crated. One member of staff punches a duck while others pick them up by the throat, throw them and kick them.
You’ll find that article on line here.
The Guardian takes letters at letters [at] guardian.co.uk.
We see a heartening shift towards vegetarianism in teens and young adults. Because that societal shift is not going to take place overnight, however, articles such as that in today’s New York Times, which encourage improvements in welfare standards, are important. I urge animal advocates to send supportive letters to the editor at letters [at] nytimes.com.
It is also important, however, not to forget that eating animals is not a fact of life for those of us who live in an age and place where there are so many wonderful alternatives. Those who have chosen to forego animal products have an opportunity provided by the stories in the New York Times and Guardian to write letters singing the praises of plant based diets.
Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor. Remember that shorter letters are more likely to be published. And please be sure not to use any comments or phrases from me or from any other alerts in your letters. Editors are looking for original responses from their readers.
Yours and the animals’,
Karen Dawn
(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts if you do so unedited — leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line. If somebody forwards DawnWatch alerts to you, which you enjoy, please help the list grow by signing up. It is free.)
To discontinue DawnWatch alerts go to www.DawnWatch.com/nothanks.php
—————————————-
Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts dawnwatch meat pigs cattle ducks factory farming vegan veganism vegetarian vegetarianism Nicolette Hahn Niman Smithfield Foods Smithfield’s hog gestation crates EU European Union hog confinement operations pollution overcrowding Humane Slaughter Act of 1958 Humane Slaughter Act documentary undercover footage RSPCA Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Freedom Food Norfolk animal abuse cruelty to animals
