Pig cruelty is the infliction of suffering or harm upon pigs.
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ThePigSite.com stated that IceNews reported that in 2009 the number of pigs that arrived at slaughterhouses with injuries incurred by planks and chains increased. IceNews cited a Copenhagen Post report saying that increasing abuse "may be caused by the new system, introduced in 2006, which rewards" the rushed loading of animals onto vehicles. Over 2008 and 2009, the number of pig abuse cases in Denmark had increased fivefold.[1]
Sometimes sow stalls are used to restrict the movement of sows during pregnancy. This practice is prohibited for pigs exported to the UK. However, the method was found on some Danish farms by British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver in a television programme for the UK's Channel 4 in 2009.[2][3]
According to Scoop, in 2009 the New Zealand pork industry was "dealt a shameful public relations slap-in-the-face after its former celebrity kingpin, Mike King, ousted their farming practices as 'brutal,' 'callous' and 'evil'" on a May episode of New Zealand television show Sunday. King condemned the "appalling treatment" of factory farmed pigs. King observed conditions inside a New Zealand piggery, and saw a dead female pig inside a sow stall, lame and crippled pigs and others that could barely stand, pigs either extremely depressed or highly distressed, pigs with scars and injuries, and a lack of clean drinking water and food.
“Sow crate farming should be illegal and we should outlaw it right now. It is absolutely disgusting and I am sorry that I was part of it,” – Mike King, 2009[4]
In the United States the pigs kept in unhealthy environments exhibit behaviors such as repetitive bar biting, sham chewing (chewing on nothing), and obsessively pressing on water bottles.
After visiting several pig factory farms, investigator Lauren Ornelas wrote:
"What will remain with me forever is the sound of desperate pigs banging their heads against immovable doors and their constant and repeated biting at the prison bars that held them captive. This, I now know, is a sign of mental collapse."
Piglets are taken from their mothers when they are as young as 10 days old and packed into pens until they are separated to be raised for breeding or meat. Factory farmers chop off the piglets' tails and often use pliers to break off the ends of their teeth. Farmers also remove pieces of the young animals' ears for identification purposes and remove the males' testicles without the use of pain-killers.
A 10 April 2001 story in the Washington Post reports that "Hogs...are dunked in tanks of hot water after they are stunned to soften the hides for skinning. As a result, a botched slaughter condemns some hogs to being scalded and drowned. Secret videotape from an Iowa pork plant shows hogs squealing and kicking as they are being lowered into the water."
According to a 10 November 2002 article in the New York Times, "Sick pigs, being unproductive 'production units' are clubbed to death on the spot." Other methods used to kill sick pigs include: "thumping" (slamming animals' heads against the floor until they die), drowning them with a hose, and standing on their necks.[5]
In November 2009, video released to Fox News by Mercy for Animals showed a string of alleged abuses at one of the nation's largest pig farms, including footage of employees picking up baby pigs and tossing them like footballs. Additional scenes from the video had shown injured pigs going uncared for and pregnant hogs being kept in very small pens. Fox News refused to air several portions of the video, saying they were too disturbing. Fox News visited the Country View Family Farm in Fannettsburg, Pennsylvania, where communications manager Eric Haman sat down to watch the MFA video for the first time.
"There are some things in this video that I can’t and won’t defend. The mishandling of animals I can't defend, it’s unacceptable. But there are others that could be seen out of context and I can’t really understand what’s going on."
Most states exempt farm animals from state anti-cruelty laws that apply to domestic animals. In 2007, the National Pork Board, which monitors the pork industry, launched its Pork Quality Assurance Plus program focusing on animal welfare training and encouraging pork producers to hire third-party auditors to inspect their farms.[6]
New York Times reported that keeping pigs and other animals in "unnaturally overcrowded" environments poses considerable health risks for workers, neighbors, and consumers.[7]