Behind the Scenes in the Pork Industry

Would you still be hungry after reading this?

Where do you think all your pork ribs and pork belly came from? They did not spring up magically onto your plate. These products were from real living, breathing animals, like you and me.

What not many people may know, is that pigs are very much like dogs - friendly, loyal, and intelligent. And something people might find shocking is that these pigs are naturally very clean and avoid dirtying their living areas.

However, in modern factory farms, these outgoing and lovable animals are brought up in filthy, crowded warehouses where they are kept in constant confinement before they are shoved onto trucks and sent to slaughter.

Abuse of mother pigs

For mother sows (pigs), they are sentenced to a miserable life for a crime they did not commit. They are confined to tiny, narrow metal crates and will never be able to feel the affectionate nuzzle of a mate or live a natural life.

When these sows are old enough to reproduce, they are artificially inseminated and will spend their entire pregnancy of nearly four months in gestation crates. These are so small they cannot even turn around and are only allowed to move backwards and forwards. Due to a lack of movement and exercise, they often experience health problems such as pressure sores and ulcers.

In these highly-stressful situations where animals have little or no control over their environment, they will perform repetitive movements, called stereotypes. For sows, they have been seen repeatedly rubbing her snout back and forth the metal bars of the cage. Some have also been reported chewing or biting the metal bars as a sign of stress and frustration.

After giving birth, they will be moved to farrowing crates which are similar to gestation crates. The only difference would be that these farrowing crates offer a tiny additional concrete area where she can nurse her piglets.

Their mothers are then returned to the gestation crates and will be immediately impregnated again, continuing the cycle of forced impregnation and imprisonment until their bodies can no longer handle to strain and sent to slaughter.

Torture of baby pigs

Because the sows are unable to provide enough milk for all her piglets, they will have their teeth painfully snipped off with pliers, without the use of any anesthesia or painkillers,  to minimise damage when fighting to suckle.

But many of these babies who are stillborn are just left among those who survive. Piglets not only have to fight for milk, but they also have to be wary of their large mothers, who might crush them to death. Piglets can also get their legs stuck in between the bars of the metal cage, preventing them from drinking their mother’s milk.

In nature, these animals tend to stay with their mothers for several months before they are weaned. However, in factory farms, after just three weeks with their mothers, they are torn away from them and are transferred to pens where they will be fattened up.

The piglets will then have their tails chopped off, their teeth clipped in half if they have not been already, their ears mutilated, and the males’ will have their testicles cut off. All this is done without any pain relievers or anaesthetic so these piglets will have to endure immense amounts of pain.  

They will be crammed into pens with thousand other piglets, with almost no room to move, and forced to live with their own feces and vomit, where they will spend the rest of their lives until they are large enough for slaughter.

Due to the extreme crowding, poor ventilation, and buildup of feces, diseases can spread quickly. And because these piglets have not fed from their mothers long enough to build up immunity, they are fed routine antibiotics to promote growth and prevent diseases.

Because of illnesses, a lack of room to exercise, and unnatural genetic manipulation that causes the pigs to grow larger much faster, they often develop joint problems such as arthritis. And by the time these pigs are ready for slaughter, many of them are suffering from lung lesions caused by pneumonia, and more than half suffer from mange.

Road to slaughter

When it’s time for slaughter, the pigs are forced onto transport trucks. The journey to the slaughterhouse is often very long and the pigs will have to endure all sorts of harsh weathers. Many pigs die of dehydration or exhaustion during the summer or die from hypothermia during the winter.

It has been reported that more than 1 million pigs die each year during transportation due to illnesses or lack of food and water.

When the pigs reach slaughterhouses, they are stunned to render them unconscious. Because pigs are highly intelligent animals and can get stressed very easily, they are stunned using gas chambers, which is considered the most “humane” way to knock them out before slaughter.

Once in the chambers, the pigs will thrash and scream as they gasp for air while being suffocated by immense amounts of carbon dioxide.

However, for pigs who refuse or are unable to enter the gas chamber, they will be kicked and shocked using electric prods countless times to knock them out.

Once they stop moving and thrashing, the pigs will be hung upside down by their back legs and await slaughter. But because of improper stunning methods, many pigs are still very conscious when they have their throats slit. They trash and kick as the blade slice their skin and even when they reach the scalding-hot water, which is intended to remove their hair and soften their skin.

Should any animal have to go through such horrific and terrifying conditions just for a plate of pork ribs?