The Truth about Battery Farms: Pigs

The conditions mother pigs live in for their entire lives. Photo from Advocacy for Animals.

Pigs are a highly intelligent animal, they have the intelligence of a three year old child in fact. Yes, this is very surprising. When put into a shed that is covered in hay, the pig will gather up all the hay into a corner to make themselves a bed, and use the other end of the shed as a toilet. Now isn't that adorable?

So imagine what it must feel like for this inquisitive and affectionate animal, capable of boredom and depression, to be locked in a cage for their entire life, without room to even turn around.

Pigs destined for slaughter must first live a short life, 4 months to be precise, of unbearable pain and agony. When they are born, piglets have their teeth cut, their tails chopped off - through to the bone, males are castrated and they have parts of their ears cut off for identification. And this is done without any form of pain relief. Imagine that as your introduction to life.

If someone did this to a puppy they would be prosecuted for animal cruelty. Yet this sort of action is deemed acceptable when applied to the factory farming system.

The mother pigs in this system are stuck in an endless cycle of giving birth on a hard concrete or metal floor until she can no longer physically cope with the pain, when this occurs she is sent to the slaughterhouse. 

This sort of treatment to animals with the cognitive abilities of a three year old child is absolutely horrendous and should be banned. With more people finding out these truths, hopefully it will be.

The only interaction mothers get with their piglets. Photo from brightside.org.