The Dark Side of Factory Hog Farming: Animal Cruelty, and To

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The Dark Side of Factory Hog Farming: Animal Cruelty, and Toxic Waste Killing Lake Winnipeg

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Sponsored Content By: Hog Watch Manitoba Steering Committee: Vicki Burns, Bill Massey, Brent Bjorklund, Janine Gibson

Posted: 4:30 PM CDT Friday, Sep. 13, 2024 Last Modified: 11:09 AM CDT Monday, Sep. 16, 2024

QUOTE: "Manitoba’s industrial hog production model is built on practices that disregard animal welfare subjecting pigs to cruelty, a lack of concern for environmental sustainability, and indifference to human health threats. While these concerns may seem radical and unfounded, the facts are clear. . . . "

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Dangers of ag-gag laws.

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Re: The dark side of factory hog farming: animal cruelty and toxic waste killing Lake Winnipeg (Sponsored content, Sept. 13)

Factory-style hog barns that are dominating the hog industry are a far cry from the family farms that many of the public still envision.

The pigs are never outside, but are constantly confined in large facilities with slatted floors, through which their urine and feces fall to the pits below. The toxic fumes, ammonia and hydrogen sulfide emanating from the pits will suffocate the animals in a matter of minutes, if the ventilation systems fail. The imminent danger of ag-gag legislation having passed in this province means these Manitoba pigs will have no one advocating for their welfare.

There will be no way for Canadian consumers and export customers to know of the inhumane conditions these pigs endure. Instead, the general public will be at the mercy of the industry’s secretive treatment of farm animals.

Nature did not intend for animals to live by the thousands, crammed together inside buildings, raised on pharmaceutical products, with no access to the outdoors for grass, sunlight or the clean healthy scent of fresh air. The industrial production of farm animals is a grim saga of pollution, health risks and animal misery.

Do ethics matter, in this dismal fashion of raising animals? Apparently not! Animal stewardship is completely ignored.

Intensive livestock animal care is running on empty in Manitoba.

John Fefchak
Virden, MB