Pigs Beaten With a Board and Kicked in the Face, All for Pork (Video)
On March 15, workers on a Utah farm were filmed repeatedly kicking pigs in the face and beating them with a two-by-four, lifting them up by the tails and hind legs, and shoving them forward, at times apparently causing them to collapse. According to the eyewitness, the abuse occurred on Jensen-Fowers Farm. Now, PETA’s offering a reward for information leading to the conviction of the two men.
The day PETA received the video, we sent an urgent letter along with the footage to Sheriff Ryan Arbon of the Weber County Sheriff’s Office, pointing out that the abuse appears to violate Utah’s anti-cruelty provisions and asking the agency to investigate. The office swiftly opened a criminal investigation into the farm. The office’s investigation has not yet resulted in arrests, so—to urge the public to help law enforcement catch the abusers—we’re offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the two workers. (We’re also asking the Utah Pork Producers Association, whose executive director has condemned the abuse, to walk the walk by matching the reward.) Tipsters should contact Detective Tyrell Hebdon of the Weber County Sheriff’s Office at 801-778-6646.
Pigs feel pain just as dogs, cats, and humans do and are as deserving of protection from abuse and violence, which are common in the pork industry.
Because terrible stress resulting from severely crowded conditions can cause pigs to fight and bite each other on the tail, workers cut off piglets’ tails, usually when they’re between 4 and 14 days of age. Male piglets are also castrated at that time. These extremely painful procedures are performed by laypeople—not veterinarians or other trained professionals—and without pain relief.
PETA is sounding the alarm on the pork industry, one pig farm at a time.
Our undercover investigations into pig farms have resulted in felony cruelty charges against workers who threw, beat, and kicked pigs and abused them in other ways. In one momentous case, three workers were convicted and sentenced after PETA released hours of video footage that revealed shocking, systematic cruelty—it shows workers beating pregnant sows with a wrench and an iron pole, skinning pigs alive, and sawing a fully conscious animal’s legs off. (This was the first time in U.S. history that any farmworker was indicted on felony cruelty-to-animals charges.)
A few years later, another PETA undercover investigation resulted in four counts of felony cruelty to animals against a former pig farm manager after we uncovered shocking abuse at the third-largest pig factory farm in the U.S. marking the second time in U.S. history that a factory farm employee was charged with felony animal abuse).
The best way to help prevent suffering like this is to go vegan.
No meal is worth the enormous suffering of these intelligent animals, who are capable of feeling pain and fear, just as we all are. Helping pigs like the ones in the footage above is as simple as leaving them off your plate, which has never been easier, thanks to options like Gardein’s Sweet and Sour Porkless Bites, Sweet Earth’s Benevolent Bacon, Beyond Meat’s Original Brat Beyond Sausage, and Trader Joe’s Soy Chorizo. For recipe ideas, tips on going vegan, and more, click below:
