children's books & reality: baby piglets

We've looked at chicks and calves in our miniseries on the difference between the idyllic world of children's books and reality for farm animal babies, and will turn the page to piglets in one last post.  Thank you for bearing with some distressing content, perhaps even more than usual because newborns are involved.  Some of it's been hard for me to take in and write, and yet we can't turn our backs on these little guys and gals.  FYI, we will be commemorating our 2nd anniversary the rest of the week, and hopefully lift our spirits a bit as we look back and forward on what God is doing with not one sparrow!

But I don't want to jump past the piglet in the meantime.  A fine First Step Nonfiction book by Robin Nelson, Pigs, shows adorably soft white or pink piglets clustered around their mother in a wide open grass field, contentedly rooting in the mud, or in a barn stall with lush hay. 

I was, however, surprised to see another book for beginning readers, Pigs by JoAnn Early Macken, honestly depict piglets "snuggl(ing) close to stay warm" on a bare metal slab in a cold stall.  Another image shows them feeding over a grate between steel bars from their mother, who is confined to the point of hardly being able to move, in a typical industrial facility.  Yet it also goes on to describe how pigs enjoy rolling in the water and mud.  Obviously, more than one type of pig farm is being portrayed,  though emphasis remains on the far less common free range kind.  But the book is also commendably honest about the high intelligence of pigs, and the fact that they are raised for meat and leather.

Actual conditions are horrific enough for sows in typical factory farm settings, confined in gestation stalls which are about two feet wide and "barely longer than the sows themselves ... caught in a constant cycle of impregnation and re-impregnation."  Many of them develop bad sores from constant friction with the bars, and they stand on slatted concrete which is meant to, but doesn't always succeed in, filtering away their waste.  "Many display neurotic behavior, such as biting the bars or banging their heads against them."

As for the piglets, they are castrated and tail-docked without anaesthesia, squealing in horror.  Why are their tails docked, you ask?  To "prevent pigs from gnawing on each other's tails, a behavior that often arises from the stress of extreme overcrowding."  They may be handled with extreme roughness, and get pinned by the bars in their stalls.  "Workers 'wean' piglets by grabbing them from their mothers by an ear, a leg, or sometimes with a 'grabber.'"  They may even be flipped through the air, with other cruelties administered to them if it strikes the fancy of sadistic workers.

This information comes courtesy of a Mercy for Animals investigation of a particular facility in Pennsylvania, but with conditions which are sadly par for the course for the pork industry ("Breeding Misery: An Undercover Investigation into the Pork Industry," in Mercy for Animals Compassionate Living (Winter '10), footage available, but it is graphic).  "Sick, injured and runt piglets are put to death in a CO2 gas cart," which may not be functioning as effectively (i.e. quickly) as it should, and I've shuddered to watch another repeatedly slammed to death on the floor in additional MFA footage (featured in our post "Hidden from View").

Friends, it's obvious that these stomach-turning travesties cannot continue.  If we are going to farm pigs, we simply can't do it this way; and as consumers, we can't continue to sponsor blatant cruelty with our purchases.  Please make every effort to make sure the pork and bacon products you purchase come from more humane settings.

For happier stories of rescued piglets and reforming pig farmers, which we all need after information like this, please see our feel-good posts "The Good Good Pig," "Real Life Wilbur's" and "Also Many Animals."

(all images copyright their respective owners: cover and first page image from Pigs (First Step Nonfiction Farm Animals) by Robin Nelson (Lerner '08), second page image from Pigs (Animals that Live on the Farm) by JoAnn Early Macken (Weekly Reader Early Learning Library '05), last photo courtesy Farm Sanctuary)

Comments

[Lee]

Keep these kind of posts coming, Ben - to make us aware about what's going on behind factory farm doors. What's your suggested call to action?

I've been hearing about the documentary 'Pig Business' with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., but only this evening did I find the opportunity to watch the trailer. Here's the link: http://www.pigbusiness.co.uk/.

Here's an excerpt from the Director's statement: "All of the issues in the film from animal cruelty to human rights are being confronted by a plethora of campaigners all over the world. However, if we simply treat symptoms of breakdown as individual problems we are shifting chairs on the titanic."

[Ben DeVries]

Thank you, Lee, and for the trailer and link you shared. As I wrote in a personal message, I think pricking folks' consciences remains a vital part of the process, and perhaps all we can do in some instances. That said, pointing to and contributing to the efforts of groups like Humane Society and Farm Sanctuary and the humane reforms they are trying to see particular states adopt, like California a couple years back and Ohio currently, is also vitally important. I'd still like to work towards some sort of factory farm awareness campaign within the broader Christian community as well, Lord willing. thanks - Ben