When I was in college, I watched a 6-mos-old pig be slaughtered. She resisted her captors, stretching backwards, trying in vain to separate herself from the hands grasped around sensitive ears. When a shackle was attached to her rear left leg, she screamed in agony and fear as she was hoisted - fully conscious - into the air. The slaughterer electrocuted her, her form went limp, and I cannot tell you if she felt her throat being cut. Her body reacted, as all bodies would to such violence, by shivering and shaking and rejecting death as much as possible.
The slaughterhouse is a small one, never disassembling more than a hundred animals in a day. The callous disregard shown by the “processor”, the students, and the professor haunt me to this day. She wanted to live, with every single fiber of her being. Her muscles - soon to be devoured by humans - ached to be moving away from that place. Her heart - eventually tossed in an orange plastic bin - pumped furiously, trying to move her forward, backward, anywhere but on that kill floor.
I can tell you why I am reliving that nightmare (a “luxury” that beautiful pig does not have). I won’t link you to the blog, although you will most assuredly be able to find it on your own. But I want to share the story of five pigs who died today. They did not die in a large slaughterhouse, victims of industrial agriculture. They died on a small farm, as part of a made-up “adult” 4H project.
These are the five pigs.
Pigs are inquisitive, sensitive, intelligent animals. And they can bond. The individual responsible for the deaths of these five pigs recognized that, “They are always super excited to see me, even more excited when I bring treats and the most excited when I brush them and give belly rubs. They run and grunt at me when they see me.” This is not someone incapable of recognizing that nonhumans experience pleasure, physical and emotional. This is someone who has been trained, from a young age, that other animals are here for a “job” - defined by humans, for humans. In the case of these pigs, apparently their “job” was to go on a “journey” with this woman that involved friendship, bonding, care-giving, and then their own bloodletting.
Not a “job” I’d want.
When some kind-hearted folks learned of this woman’s public declaration of killing these five pigs, they left some comments discouraging the unnecessary stealing of lives. In response, the woman offered to stave off slaughter if only people would pay $5,000 for all five pigs lives.
If that does not tell you about the motivations of this person, I don’t know what will (except perhaps the photo below). When no one could either afford or justify giving money to further exploit nonhumans, compassionate people were accused of being cruel for NOT buying the pigs.
If, and it is a big if, these pigs were seen as individuals who have a value outside of dollar signs and “pork”…well, I suppose they wouldn’t be dead.
Early on, the individual caring for these pigs presumed she would be sad and crying after their unnecessary slaughter.
Instead, she posted a gratuitous photo (I cannot bring myself to share it) of her and three other smiling humans posing before the skinned body of a once-thriving pig.
This is her idea of “humane”, of “good caregiving”. (Please note: A picture of a skinned pig hung from shackles is shown below the cut).
Read More
1 teaspoon olive oil 
