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Loading...Extreme Cruelty Revealed at Walmart Pork Supplier
Video footage of shocking cruelty taking place at Minnesota-based Christensen Farms, a Walmart pork supplier and the third largest pork producer in the U.S., was released by Mercy for Animals (MFA), who is now working to get Walmart to stop supporting suppliers who blatantly mistreat animals.
The investigation took place from December 2011 and March 2012 and found:
- Thousands of mother pigs confined to filthy, metal gestation crates so small they are unable to even turn around or lie down comfortably for nearly their entire lives
- Pigs suffering from large, open wounds and pressure sores from rubbing against the bars of their tiny cages or lying on the hard concrete flooring
- Workers slamming piglets into the ground and leaving them to slowly suffer and die
- Workers ripping out the testicles and slicing off the tails of fully conscious piglets without the use of any painkillers
- Sick and injured pigs with severe, bleeding wounds or infections left to suffer without veterinary care
- A mother pig―physically taxed from constant birthing―with an inflamed and bleeding prolapse
- Workers preparing to force-feed sows diarrhea and dead piglets
Christensen Farms issued a statement defending the actions shown on the video, only arguing that injuries and other incidents were taken out of context. They do, however, want people to know that they’ve recently started gassing sick and injured piglets, instead of bashing their heads in, although there was no comment about that last act mentioned.
So, dually noted many of the acts shown in the video, such as castration and tail docking without anesthesia, the use of gestation crates and death by blunt force trauma are considered standard industry practices supported by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and the American Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV) …despite the stomach-turning reaction many of us get from seeing or learning about them. The Minnesota Pork Producers Association also agrees with the usual sentiment issued by ag groups that people who don’t know anything about swine behavior don’t know what they’re seeing when watching clearly abusive footage.
Animal advocates, and pretty much anyone with a any sense of empathy, disagree.
“Gestation crates are unremitting hell on earth,” world-renowned animal behaviorist Dr. Jonathan Balcombe said after viewing the footage. “These intelligent animals endure awful physical and psychological suffering. No animal ever deserved to be treated like this.”
MFA held meetings with Costco and Sears Holding Corp., which owns Kmart Corp. and each announced that they would work to eliminate gestation crates from their pork supply chains, as did H.J. Heinz Co, yet Walmart continues to support this egregious cruelty.
“The hidden cost of Walmart’s cheap products is blatant animal abuse,” said MFA’s executive director, Nathan Runkle. “No animal should suffer a lifetime locked in a crate so small she can’t even turn around or lie down comfortably. It’s high time that Walmart took meaningful action to ensure that the animals raised and killed for its stores do not endure lives filled with pain and misery.”
For more info, visit www.walmartcruelty.com.
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Read more: animal cruelty, bob barker, gestation crates, mercy for animals, pigs, pork, undercover investigation, walmart
Photo credit: Thinkstock
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may
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+ add your ownall about money, money and money,thank you for sharing
Stop buying meat products from grocery stores. We buy our meat from people who raise their cows and pigs humanely....they live outside have great care are not shipped to some horrible stockyard somewhere and taste better!
money and greed... (not a good combination) = EVIL.....
I would not even walk in Walmart unless they change their ideas on how the animal are being kept. Surely this is a reflection on their greed ,,and could care less as to how their vendors are supplying their meat supply. Walmart get a life..save a life a pig's life. Ann
"you can catch a glimpse of those ugly nightmares towing their spawn behind them when you visit Walmart and look at its clientele and management.." Mark D.
Mark, I hate to say this, but I'm pretty sure it's true...the average Walmart Supercenter shopper does not go to places like Care2 for their information, and they do not know where their food comes from. They MIGHT care, if they DID know, but they are not educated about it. *They might watch "Good Morning America" on occasion, but they more likely avoid any news and stick to reality shows like the "Kardashian's," "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant," and "Bridezillas." The media is doing a really good job of dumbing down America, huh? When you have parents that avoid REAL NEWS, and don't educate their children about the REAL WORLD, how do you expect the kids to grow up to be intelligent, and educated about their food sources...or anything else?
*My apologies to anyone intelligent here who watches any of those shows for sh#@s and giggles, and knows they aren't really reality. Hopefully you get the gist of what I'm saying.
an underclass of humanity straight out of a horror movie exists that does these types of crimes as part of their basic nature.. pseudo human things that appear like mutated insects spewing trash and grease from their pores. you can catch a glimpse of those ugly nightmares towing their spawn behind them when you visit Walmart and look at its clientele and management.. but it's not only in the western countries, degraded human trash infests the whole earth.
Shame on Walmart.
If everyone spent an hour or two of their lives watching the videos documenting the horrendous evidence of extreme cruelty to animals, it might be enough to make the masses stand up and demand change. I no longer watch the videos....how much more does anyone need to see? But they are necessary and effective. Should be a part of public school curriculum.
I can't watch the video. If people would just stop eating animals, this madness would end.
Very painful to read
cant imagine to watch
there are people so cruel....These people remind me of a Great quote said by a great man...
The greatness of a nation & its morel progress can be Judged by the way its animals are treated.
-M.K.Gandhi
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