Video shows pigs shrieking in agony as they’re blasted with steam and heat exceeding 140 degrees in a barn with the ventilation ports closed. It’s a process animal agriculture industry insiders call “Ventilation Shutdown” or VSD."
[October 2021: The Letter About Ventilation Shutdown JAVMA Refuses to Publish]
Dead Pigs after "VSD"...
MAY 28, 2020, GRUNDY COUNTY, IA - A month-long investigation by the animal rights network Direct Action Everywhere (DxE), in collaboration with Iowa Select Farms (ISF) employee whistleblowers, has exposed pigs shrieking in agony as they’re blasted with steam and heat exceeding 140 degrees in a barn with the ventilation ports closed.
Large interior tubes...
Live pigs prior to "VSD"...
After "VSD," steam dissipating to reveal bodies...
Worker with bolt guns looking to kill any survivors after "VSD"...
It’s a process animal agriculture industry insiders call “Ventilation
Shutdown” or VSD, which DxE captured on hidden camera video. 2-3 hours into
the process, workers carrying bolt guns open the doors and can be seen
walking through the barn, glancing side-to-side and shooting pigs exhibiting
obvious signs of life.
Investigators say this cruelty is a violation of Iowa state law, citing a
legal opinion from a former federal prosecutor, as well as a veterinary
opinion.
Industry veterinarians, ISF internal communications, the Iowa Attorney
General’s Office and the Grundy County Sheriff’s Office contend that the
practice is not only lawful but humane, but activists say these opinions
have been unduly influenced by corporate lobbying. Moreover, an ISF
whistleblower (“David”) says the choice to use VSD was one driven by profit;
it’s cheaper to kill pigs on-site than to send them elsewhere to be killed.
DxE investigators submitted a criminal livestock neglect complaint to the
Grundy County Sheriff’s Department, only to themselves be charged with
trespassing at the request of Iowa Select Farms.
In consideration of the COVID-19 outbreak and other biosecurity concerns,
DxE investigators followed veterinarian-approved biosecurity protocols while
in the presence of live pigs in ISF facilities.
The DxE team’s lead investigator, native Iowan Matt Johnson, previously led
an investigation of a Mahaska County pig farm owned by Iowa State Senator
Ken Rozenboom. After the investigation was released in January, ISF posted a
flyer at company facilities which tells employees (in Spanish) to contact a
manager if Johnson is seen, and that “If he walks in, we’re fucked.” But
this had an unintended consequence. David saw the Rozenboom investigation
and reached out to Johnson and DxE with concerns about criminal animal
cruelty occurring at ISF factory farms.
(DxE encourages industry workers, government employees, or anybody at all to
submit testimony and evidence of industry misconduct at DxE.io/Whistle.
Whistleblower anonymity will absolutely be respected unless explicitly
authorized otherwise.)
DxE says Iowans are opposed to industry abuses, but are denied truthful
information by the animal agriculture’s corrupting influence over our
political system. And they say ISF is a prime example. Company owners Jeff
and Deb Hansen and their son Michael have contributed over $300,000 to the
campaign of Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, maintaining a cozy relationship with
the state’s top official. Reynolds last year signed the state’s latest
“ag-gag” statute into law, despite widespread public opposition, within just
weeks of taking office.
But Johnson says people everywhere are wising up.
“An element of good that has emerged from the ravages of COVID-19, and of
this investigation, is that the longstanding systemic abuses of animal
agriculture have been openly exposed for the world to see,” he said. “It's a
catastrophe for animals, workers, the environment, and public health, and
now even the industry’s own workforce is rising up against it.”
David agrees, citing his own growing concerns over company misconduct.
“It was affecting me more and more every day -- feeling the compassion and
empathy for these animals that we were working with every day,” he said.
As part of its #CancelAnimalAg campaign, DxE is calling on Governor Reynolds
and government officials everywhere to address the impact of animal
agriculture amid the coronavirus crisis. Rather than doubling-down with
subsidies to continue propping up the industry, activists are calling for an
end to the devastation once and for all.
Johnson said, “When we have a system that is fundamentally broken -- with
government reinforcing, rather than regulating, an abusive industry which
only serves those at the very top -- it’s left to ordinary people to take
action ourselves and hold our elected officials accountable to the will of
the people.”
Also read animal rights activist poet Heidi Stephenson's The behind-the-doors evil of VSD
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