Lauren Ornelas, Food Empowerment
Project
April 2013
The first time I ever saw footage of a mother pig, in a more natural environment, making a nest for her babies, it brought me to tears realizing the frustration they must feel in farrowing crates.
To commemorate my 25th year of being a vegan, I have decided to share
some stories from various investigations I have done of factory farms,
auctions, and slaughterhouses. Though these investigations were conducted
with the organization I started and ran, Viva!USA, they are a powerful part
of my life and hopefully will help many understand why veganism is a key
part to Food Empowerment Project’s goal of a more just food system.
Charlotte’s Web is one of those books that made a lasting impact on me. This
book not only made me think twice about animals who are killed, but gave me
a longtime appreciation for spiders. What is most pertinent about this book
today is that the whole point was Wilbur wanted to live – it wasn’t about
his living conditions, it was simply about his desire to stay alive. And it
also showed us strong and compassionate females.
My first investigation of a pig farm was down in Southern Georgia (I was
living in Atlanta at the time). Here on a very small pig farm, I saw
firsthand mother pigs in gestation crates and farrowing crates. The haunting
images of pigs in crates so small they could not turn around was no longer
on video or in a photo – I was face to face with the reality.
The mamma pigs (remember, they are pregnant when they are in the gestation
crates) banging their noses on the bars – over and over. Some of the larger
pigs lay on their sides, struggling to move. These pigs were probably
further along in their pregnancies.
Their boredom and their frustration were not something that anyone could
question. Day after day these pigs had nothing but bars to bite on, and they
hit their noses against the doors. They stood on cement slatted flooring.
Nothing to do all day and night.
Though I have never been pregnant, such an experience is not necessary to
understand how uncomfortable these mothers were and how much they
desperately needed to be comfortable.
From there, we were able to walk into a building where the mammas were in
the farrowing crates. Pigs are moved from gestation crates to the farrowing
crates before they give birth.
Here in these crates, where again they cannot turn around or move, they give
birth to their babies. And here, I saw anguish in their eyes.
These crates are still legal almost everywhere.
The first time I ever saw footage of a mother pig, in a more natural
environment, making a nest for her babies, it brought me to tears realizing
the frustration they must feel in farrowing crates. All of the desire of
these mothers to create a comfortable and warm place to have her babies—not
to mention a desire for natural movements — is prevented.
Some farmers claim if they did not put the pigs in these crates, they would
crush their babies. Can you imagine? How ludicrous is that? That would mean
that pigs would have died out a LONG time ago. If a species constantly
killed their young, I would imagine they would have gone extinct or would
have evolved differently. But I guess the farmers want a pat on the back for
saving the pigs, right?
Outrageous. But these types of unbelievable myths continue to thrive.
Charts on the farm wall indicated how many piglets lived and how many died.
Clearly, their solution to nature wasn’t exactly working either. But the
lives of these animals were just numbers.
I traveled to North Carolina (the second-largest pig-killing state in the
US) to investigate more farms. My goal of course was to show how the living
conditions of these animals don’t vary by the size or location of the farms.
In one area, I found what is called the “nursery,” which is where the
piglets are kept before they get to the “fattening” area. This “nursery” was
full of cobwebs (clearly not because Charlotte was trying to save their
lives) and although the piglets were unbearably cute, there were some who
were dead. The dead among the living – a regular scene on industrialized
animal factories.
Shed after shed, I saw pigs in smaller pens within large sheds. Here I
videotaped a pig with a leg injury – his leg so swollen he had trouble lying
down. I watched helplessly as a pig with a huge, black ulceration died –
right in front of me. Nearby I saw the putrefied corpse of a pig; what I
thought was a plastic bag behind her turned out to be a small, thin pig who
was left in the middle of the alley, without food or water.
Treating living beings as commodities is not just something that we as
advocates say, it is reality.
I could cite studies and reports examining how intelligent pigs are, but I
shouldn’t have to. I could dispel the myths about pigs being “dirty,” but I
shouldn’t have to. Pigs, like all animals, deserve to live out their lives
free of exploitation and suffering at our hands, and that should be enough
to get all of us to stop eating them and go vegan.
Wilbur asked Charlotte, “Why did you do all this for me? I don't deserve it.
I've never done anything for you.” “You have been my friend,” replied
Charlotte. “That in itself is a tremendous thing.”
I hope one day we can truly be friends to all animals.
Number of animals killed in the world by the fishing, meat, dairy and egg industries, since you opened this webpage.
0 marine animals
0 chickens
0 ducks
0 pigs
0 rabbits
0 turkeys
0 geese
0 sheep
0 goats
0 cows / calves
0 rodents
0 pigeons/other birds
0 buffaloes
0 dogs
0 cats
0 horses
0 donkeys and mules
0 camels / camelids