It Stinks!

Pig With Boots--Ethan Bloch

Could you seriously condemn this pig to a life of torture? It's even wearing tiny green rain boots.

After reading more of Jonathan Safran Foer’s book Eating Animals, I’ve got more bad news. Say goodbye to any more peace of mind when it comes to eating bacon, pork chops, ham sandwiches, and pulled pork because this next revelation reveals the nastiness of pigs raised in factory farms.

Smithfield is the largest pork processor in the nation. Each year it kills 31 million oinkers for food. To put that in context, imagine adding up all the humans in LA, NYC, Chicago, Phoenix, Houston, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Antonio, San Jose, Dallas, Jacksonville, Detroit, San Francisco, Indianapolis, Fort Worth, Austin, Memphis, and Columbus. That’s how many people it takes to have 31 million people. I think you get the point, Smithfield kills a whole lotta pigs.

So what is life like for Wilbur and his ilk? Terrible, in one word. In two words, really terrible.

Foer writes that pregnant sows have to live in gestation crates. These small confines do not allow for the sow to turn around. They end up leading to a decrease in bone density. They prompt the development of sores on the body of the pigs. The pigs live in their waste. They sometimes go insane and drink their urine, incessantly drink water, or munch of the bars of their torture chambers, I mean, crates.

While these gestation crates are being outlawed in places like California, Florida, and Arizona, sows live just as poorly once they give birth.

The pregnant sows are put in farrowing crates which are similar to the gestation crates and are some time held down against the floor of the crates so that they won’t crush the piglets. The piglets themselves are deformed and 9-15% die by the time they start being fed solid food (but hey, 100% of them die sooner or later. Maybe these are the luck ones). The runts of the litter are picked out and have their heads smashed against the floor in a process called “thumping.” Can’t waste food and antibiotics on small pigs is the logic there. By the time the pigs get ready for the big dance (slaughter, that is) 30%-70% have respiratory infections due to their own toxic waste, the large number of pigs with compromised health and immune systems, and the poor factory environment. This of course prompts disease and pandemics amongst pig and possibly human populations.

Now lets talk about how pig farms harm humans. The waste that comes from the floors of the factory farms is held in large retaining ponds. To get rid of the waste, the factories make feces fountains (it does have a ring to it) and shoot it into the air so that it can escape to nearby neighborhoods. Foer shares that this can cause “severe neurological damage” not to mention nosebleeds, chronic diarrhea, burning lungs, and ear aches. There is also suspicion between MRSA (a flesh eating bacteria) and folks who have the misfortune of living near pig farms.

Then there is the environment. Smithfield was on the receiving end of 7,000 violations of the Clean Water Act in 1997 which cost the company $12.6 million. Now Smithfield rakes in $12.6 million dollars just about twice a day (really every ten hours).

Consider this the next time you purchase factory farmed flesh.

Shockley