Pig Farm Workers Fired for Abusing Animals
Several employees of Murphy Family Ventures, which owns pig-breeding farms that supply Smithfield Foods, the country’s largest pork producer, were fired in response to PETA’s recent undercover investigation released less than two weeks ago. You can read more about this development in the investigation in a great piece by FoxNews.com. A big “Thank You” is deserved for the thousands of people who contacted Smithfield to take action against the abusive employees. If you haven’t already, please write to Smithfield Foods to demand that Murphy Family Ventures work with PETA to enact meaningful animal welfare reforms. This is a sample of cruelty documented by PETA’s undercover investigator that should convince you that welfare reforms are very much needed:
- Workers dragged injured pigs out of the facility by their snouts, ears, and legs before killing them with a captive bolt gun. Some of the pigs had “KILL” spray-painted on their backs.
- A farm supervisor admitted that he violently beat pigs, saying of one that he “cut the sh** out of his God damn nose with a f***ing gate rod.”
- Workers cut off piglets’ tails and pulled out piglets’ testicles—without using any pain relief—as the baby animals screamed in pain in front of mother pigs.
- Two workers and a supervisor hit and jabbed pigs—sometimes in their faces and near their ears—with 2-foot-long metal gate rods on 31 of the 41 days that PETA’s investigator worked.
- A worker gouged the eyes of four pigs with his fingers. Pigs suffered from ailments including cysts, sores, and a uterine prolapse for which they were denied treatment.
