PETA video shows pigs abused at Iowa Farm

[Hell Hath No Fury]

This was originally posted by mycritters2 in LBN and was locked -- I am reposting it here in GD because it is important that this be seen. HHNF

Original thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3494745



PETA video shows pigs abused at Iowa Farm
Source: CNN

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An undercover video taken at an Iowa pig farm shows workers hitting sows with metal rods, slamming piglets on a concrete floor and bragging about jamming rods up into sows' hindquarters.
The pork industry and a Hormel spokesperson say animal abuse is unacceptable and not the norm.

The pork industry and a Hormel spokesperson say animal abuse is unacceptable and not the norm.

On the video, obtained by The Associated Press, a supervisor tells an undercover investigator for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals that when he gets angry or a sow won't move, "I grab one of these rods and jam it in her ."

The farm, located outside Bayard, Iowa, about 60 miles west of Des Moines, is a supplier to Hormel Foods of Austin, Minnesota. PETA wants to use the results of the investigation to pressure Hormel, the maker of Spam and other food products, to demand that its suppliers ensure humane treatment of pigs.


Read more at: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/09/16/abused.pigs.ap/?imw=Y&iref=mpstoryemail

[Tarc]

1. Mmm, now I'm thinkin BLTs for lunch

[Hell Hath No Fury]

3. And you're a Wiccan?

What a sad person...

[Tarc]

4. Lighten up, Francis

It was a joke.

[Critters2]

28. Yeah, nothing hands me a laugh like bashing piglets to death. nt

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

30. LOL

:rofl:

[Tarc]

58. Ever read "A Day No Pigs would Die" ?

I LOLed.

[Lucian]

2. If people watched that video

and saw the treatment of those animals, do you think they'd quit eating meat finally?

For some reason, I doubt it. :(

[Hell Hath No Fury]

6. It was viewing videos like that...

that made me become a vegatarian. :shrug:

I don't expect everyone ot become a non-meateater. I would at least hope that meateaters would view videos like that and insist on better treatment for farm animals. I don't think any feeling human being could be comfortable knowing the animal they are eating led a life of torture before their slaughter.

[Lucian]

21. Same here.

[Lucian]

22. Dupe.

Sorry.

[LanternWaste]

24. If it helps...

if helps, I (along with three friends of mine) have been pro-actively attempting to be a more discerning and conscientious eater of meat.

Although it's merely academic when eating out, we have made the decision to buy our meat from a local rancher (easier done than said as we live in TX and were chums with the ranchers son way back when in HS).

I know you guys (vegans and members of PETA) catch a lot of flack, but from me you get: "Job Well Done and Keep Up the Good Work!"

[Hell Hath No Fury]

37. I think that helps.

Just raising peoples awareness about the industry is part of the solution. When people were educated on fois gras and veal, the consumers responded and forced changes in how those products are farmed.

My Mom will never stop eating meat, but she is at least starting to really think about how and where it got to her plate.

If everyone just did that, so much suffering could be ended.

Thanks for doing your part! :hi:

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

9. Why In The World Should I Quit Eating Meat Because Of That Video???

People watching that video should put pressure on companies to demand that they do not engage in animal cruelty. That would appear to be the rational and common sense response. But to give up eating meat? That does nothing but fill one with a false and undeserved sense of self righteousness while doing absolutely nothing to help the animals.

[underseasurveyor]

18. You mean people like you?

Eat meat all you want but we all need to put pressure on these companies to end cruelty. In the mean time just buy responsibly.

Progress not perfection :thumbsup:

[Lucian]

20. Not eating meat = not giving money to those companies...

that allow animal cruelty. If enough people quit eating meat, then those companies would go out of business.

Or is there something I'm missing?

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

23. Wrong.

Not eating meat = not giving money to ANY company, regardless of the practices they subscribe to.

Furthermore, ain't no way in your lifetime you are gonna get enough people to stop eating meat that would cause these companies to go out of business.

And regardless, you failed to see the point. The point is that your solution is extreme and over-reaching. What you should be doing is appealing to people to help ensure that companies that do process meat, do so without incorporating animal cruelty into their process.

[nankerphelge]

55. There are hundreds of reasons to go vegetarian...

http://www.goveg.com/theissues.asp

[superduperfarleft]

27. You wouldn't.

You're constant bullying of other DUers proves that you're pretty much a sociopath, which renders videos like this useless against your awesome use of the Multiple-Adjectives-In-A-Row technique.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

40. Try Learning How To Read Sometime, If You Could Manage.

My reply had nothing to do with the ignorance you spewed thereafter. Try reading it again. Maybe your limited capacity mind could try and grasp the concept and point a bit better this time; though I won't be holding my breath.

:dunce:

[superduperfarleft]

42. "limited capacity mind"

:rofl:

[bahrbearian]

63. I like that "limited capacity mind" and that is a crime too.

[underseasurveyor]

17. Probably not

But if they have a conscience perhaps that next ham sandwich won't taste a good as they think and eventually they'll cut way down on their meat consumption and/or if they do continue to eat meat they'll buy meat from animals that were raised humanely.

[greguganus]

29. I gave up red meat 3 months ago and eat chicken/fish about 1-2 times a week

I have never felt better. I have so much more energy. I can't swear that it's from not eating meat, as I haven't looked into the pros/cons of cutting out red meat, but I haven't changed anything else in my diet.
The reason I stopped eating it was because I was stuck in traffic behind a hog truck and the hogs were piled so tight it was inhumane. Once I cut out pork, it wasn't hard to cut out other red meats. I figured I would go back to eating it in a week or so after my little protest, but I felt so much better, I didn't go back to it.
I guess the only reason I haven't cut out poultry is I haven't got stuck behind a chicken truck in traffic! I know the conditions for chickens/turkeys are not good either. I may try to cut that out of my diet sometime in the future.

[Lance_Boyle]

31. pork is not red meat. next? n/t

[greguganus]

41. What the fuck is the "next" comment suppose to mean?

So pork is not red meat? Then I'm wrong. If your "next" comment is suppose to mean you don't believe my post, I really don't give a shit what some anonymous behind the keyboard warrior believes. What I wrote was fact, except that I was wrong that pork was red meat. Next?

[superduperfarleft]

43. Ignore him.

Good on you for reducing your meat consumption. You'll begin to notice how it tends to rile up the fundamentalist carnivores, though.

[Hawkowl]

44. Congratulations!

One step at a time my friend. I think you will end of giving chickens and turkeys as well. I started out that way myself many years ago (20?) and progressed to a completely non-animal diet about 15 years ago. I just couldn't live my life day in day out knowing that animals-- smart, beautiful animals with a full range of emotions such as joy and sadness, were being tortured to death on my behalf.

As a side benefit, I do have a lot more energy than most people and I seem to aging much slower than most people, outside and inside!

[NeedleCast]

60. Nope

You still haven't made me sufficiently guilty.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

5. That does it, I'm off pork entirely.

Just foie gras and veal for me from now on!

[underseasurveyor]

8. O Naughty Naughty

Now go to my room:spank:

:evilgrin:

[Runcible Spoon]

36. try hemlock.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

47. That's not made of meat.

No thanks.

[underseasurveyor]

7. "Not the norm" MY ASS

I lived in NW Iowa and knew many hog farmers, private and corp (mostly for Murphy). Geez do I have more horror stories for PETA.

And the dairy industry? I worked in a creamery for years and lemme tell ya there is more than one reason I don't drink milk anymore:puke:

[bobbert]

10. exactly, they probably do hundreds of these undercover investigations a year

and once every few years a videotape like this emerges, but it's the norm? That was cruel and inhumane but I think most people know how to treat animals.

[Ignis]

51. Was it the pus in the milk?

That's one of the things that put me over the fence. Ugh.

[underseasurveyor]

52. That's one thing

but one of the other things I highly objected to and complained about not only to the management but to the USDA (and there are many more incidents) was that if the milk came in marginally sour the intake guys added buckets of an alkaline caustic to the milk tanker and mixed it up. That way when the lab tested it it wouldn't come up as too acidic = sour.

The caustic was something we cleaned the equipment with after the days run.

[flvegan]

11. Thank you, PETA.

I appreciate your work exposing the amazing cruelty inherent in the animal industry.

*asbestos suit on*

I'm ready.

:popcorn:

[Marrah_G]

13. There are ways to get past the abestos .........

:evilgrin:

Just kidding... no flamage from me.

Peta: somethings they do are great, others not so great. Just my opinion though. Everyone is entitled to their own~

[flvegan]

15. Agreed.

They do so much good. Then, sometimes, I find myself slapping my forehead and saying "no, no, no..."

[Marrah_G]

16. Bingo!

I think this is a good one though. The more people who know then the more pressure that can be put to make sure that animals are treated humanely. We absolutely need more regulation and more oversight.

[cobalt1999]

25. I agree with you on this one.

Amazing.

I believe PETA would be much more effective if they focused on factory farming and cruelty to animals. They would win even me over if they focused on stopping the misuse of animals on factory farms. It would make meat more expensive, but that alone would reduce meat eating so PETA would win on two fronts at the same time.

Where they lose so many of us is when the only solution they promote is going vegetarian.

So, good for PETA this time.

[superduperfarleft]

26. PETA claims to be an animal rights organization.

(whether they are or not is an argument for another thread)

With that said, the concept of animal rights is not in any way consistent with eating animals. So as a self-proclaimed animal rights organization, PETA should most definitely NOT focus only on cruelty at the expense of promoting vegetarianism, and expecting them to do so is unreasonable.

(Of course, I'd argue that vegetarianism is not the least bit consistent with animal rights either, but once again, that's an argument for another thread)

[cobalt1999]

39. I guess.

Seems like that approach means trading help for the animals existing right NOW on factory farms for the unlikely to be attained vision of a vegan world sometime in the future.

I never thought they were a smart organization though.

[thewiseguy]

12. I am a meateater and I am against cruelty!

[Hell Hath No Fury]

14. Thank you for that balanced reply.

I think that is something we can all agree on -- no cruelty. :hi:

[Hell Hath No Fury]

19. For meateaters looking to do it differantly ---

I have been researching truly free range (no feedlots) organic beef for my Mom and I have found a farm on Ohio that I am impressed with. You can check it out here:

http://www.organicgrassfedbeef.com/

[ldr65]

32. I LOVE BACON!!! N/T

[superduperfarleft]

34. I LUV TROLL!!!111ONE N/T

[Critters2]

61. I HATE TROLLS!!!!! N/T

[Bigleaf]

33. These assholes need a fucking tune-up! I'd get me some batting practice in with these fuckers

myself and I'd be swinging for the fences.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

38. Just how disconnected from your humanity ...

do you have to be to do things like that?? That's what I always think of when I read/hear about these stories. :( We can be one seriously fucked up species. :(

[cobalt1999]

45. That's the problem, they weren't disconnected from their humanity

It's just that Humanity sucks.

[Arugula Latte]

35. Pigs are smarter than dogs.

I can't watch the video -- it will haunt me forever. I'm glad I haven't eaten pork since I was about 15.

[nam78_two]

46. This is really saddening

I just don't understand the kind of people who would make light of this kind of abuse (like the ones upthread-maybe they are dominionists and believe that "mere animals" do not deserve any protection from abuse).

I really don't understand the sociopathic impulses that that kind of casual cruelty stems from. This isn't about giving up meat-most normal, sane meat-eaters are as much against this kind of abuse of animals as vegans or vegetarians. But then there will always be the people (like Bush) who enjoy putting sticks of dynamite into the mouths of frogs just for the hell of it...

[Bigleaf]

49. I agree 100%.

:thumbsup:

[Reterr]

48. k&r-sickening.eom

[CRF450]

50. I dont like the cruelty just as much as you guys do...

But this isn't going to make me quit eating meat. Examples just as this is not norm anyways at slaughter houses.

[jberryhill]

53. Stop the Sexism on DU

Look, this has gotten out of hand.

We know what you are up to.

Any reference to pork is a reference to a pig which, as we know, is still a pig even if it is wearing lipstick - and there is only one candidate in the election who uses lipstick (in public) and that candidate:

HAS A VAGINA!

So you can stop your trollish crypto-sexism right now, buster.

[riverdeep]

54. I'm really surprised this serves as a springboard for jokes for so many people.

I would expect that on a site like youtube, but to see it here is disappointing. Raising and treating livestock humanely, regardless of whether or not you eat meat, should be something that all decent people demand of the industry.

[kwolf68]

56. Here Here

Sadly, the treatment of animals, pain feeling creatures (it is A FACT)...is treating with so much indifference it's really sad.

[chatnoir]

57. Can't bring myself to watch the video as it will never leave my head.

I've been a vegetarian for half my life and things I've seen I wish I could un-see. It is truly sad that even on a board like DU some ppl find animal abuse a fodder for jokes. :(

[galaxy21]

59. I can't take PETA seriously anymore

They're extremists. Even if they have a valid point sometimes, they're too crazy. They consider things like this on par with the holocaust. I mean its bad and all, but come on.

[Critters2]

62. Actually, the quote comparing factory farms to the Holocaust

was made by a Holocaust survivor--Isaac Bashevis Singer.

I think we should try to end all suffering, of humans and animals. Does that make me extremist? Crazy? Are people who sodomize animals the sane ones?

[galaxy21]

66. Peta are extremists

They think guide dogs for blind people are wrong.
They think diabetics should be denied insulin.
And don't even get me started on their appalling ad exploiting the Manitoba bus murder.

I heard one PETA guy was asked what he would do if asked to choose between saving a dog or a baby- and he said the dog.

Peta care more about animals than people. And that is odd.

[chatnoir]

67. I've never seen the first two before - do you have any links?

[galaxy21]

68. check out the Penn and Teller doc on you tube

It really opened my eyes to a lot of things concerning them.

I think they where people that started out with good intentions, but they just went way too far with it, and even a lot of animal lovers (including myself) are very resentful of them.

[and-justice-for-all]

64. I can not watch that stuff...

it makes me very upset and angry; I am so appalled by it.

[pipoman]

65. This is more an indictment of American work ethic

than of farming or the animal industry. The same assholes who do these things would spit in people's food if they worked in food service. It is about finding people in the labor pool who are conscience, its difficult. Most farms, even the bigger ones, which are owned and operated by farmers and not corporations with meat production as their only goal would not tolerate this shit. Most farmers view the hogs as investments and the product(quality pork)is the objective which can't be met by allowing mistreatment of the livestock.

That said, the militant side of PETA is unreasonable and they have a tendency to show these things while proclaiming them to be the rule and not the exception. They point to these things and say, "see, this is how animals are treated" in an effort to sway the opinion of the farm ignorant into believing it is true.