When Dutch animal rights group Ongehoord ("Unheard" in English) secretly filmed 26 pig farms in the Netherlands, it found that cruelty was just as prevalent on organic farms—and on those that labeled their meat with the misleading "Better Life" stamp from the Dutch SPCA—as it was on factory farms.
 

 
Video taken on a farm belonging to a supposed advocate of humane housing for pigs shows baby pigs left dying, a sick sow left unattended while suffering a miscarriage, a struggling pig who was unable to stand, and pigs as they cannibalize sick cratemates. Ongehoord says that its investigation proves that all types of farmers "create a false picture of the pig industry" and that there is still no such thing as "humane meat."

On organic farms all over the world—including in the U.S.—pigs are crammed into feces-strewn pens, mutilated without being given any painkillers, and sent to slaughter in the same filthy slaughterhouses as factory-farmed pigs. However, the meat can still be called "organic" as long as the pigs were given organic feed and weren't drugged.

Don't be misled by deceptive marketing. The only meats that are truly cruelty-free are the delicious faux varieties.

 
Written by Michelle Sherrow

The first thing you notice when looking at artist Miru Kim's  portraits of her own bare flesh as it touches pigs' skin is how similar they look. The curving lines, the freckles, and the dusting of hair could easily be human or porcine. The New York City–based artist visited factory hog farms and snapped photos of herself alongside the pigs for her exhibit, "The Pig That Therefore I Am."

About her experience on the farms, Kim told The New York Times Style Magazine: 

Annette Schwindt/CC by 2.0

 
Once you learn about pigs, it's easy to see how similar we really are, and not just on the outside. Pigs, like humans,  love listening to music, getting massages, and even playing video games. They have a complex social structure and language, and mother pigs sing to their babies while nursing.

We would never shoot a 6-month-old baby and immerse him or her into a scalding tank,  so why would we do it to a baby pig? You don't have to. Take PETA's "Pledge to Be Vegan for 30 Days" and protect the pigs "that therefore they are."
 

Written by Michelle Sherrow

It sounds too horrific to be true, but officials in South Korea are piling pigs on top of each other in trucks, dumping thousands of them into mass graves, and burying them alive.

This atrocity is intended to control an outbreak of foot and mouth disease, but there is an inexpensive vaccine for the disease that the South Korean government inexplicably refuses to use. As many as 34,000 pigs have been killed in a single day. If this cruel slaughter is allowed to continue, the number of pigs killed could reach more than 1 million.

Please urge South Korean authorities to stop this massacre immediately. Send a polite e-mail to the ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the U.S., Han Duk-soo, telling him that you want the South Korean government to stop burying pigs alive and to use humane methods of controlling foot and mouth disease.

Written by Michelle Sherrow

It's been an especially bad month for animals on factory farms. Thousands of animals died in fires over the past couple weeks, hens at a Nebraska egg farm were going to be ground up alive until PETA stepped in, and we now have word that nearly 1,000 pigs starved to death after apparently being abandoned on a farm in Fulton County, Pa.

The pigs were discovered by the estranged wife of the farmer who reportedly vacated the property several months ago—and apparently left hundreds of pigs and several calves behind to die. According to a humane society police officer who responded to the scene, evidence indicates that the animals were trapped inside barns and "struggled and fought to get out."

Union Township Supervisor Gary Sheeder, who is an acquaintance of the farm's owner, was appalled by scale of the tragedy. "I can't believe, with as many kids as he had, that life didn't mean more to him," he told a reporter. 

The real estate agent who is handling the sale of the death trap farm was more sanguine: "I think this is very normal in a lot of farming operations, that you're going to have dead animals."

Yeah, our undercover investigators have noticed that too.

Fortunately, authorities are taking the case seriously, and several state and local agencies—including the humane society, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, the state Department of Environmental Protection, and the Pennsylvania State Police—are investigating and are considering pressing charges. Check back for updates as we learn more.

Written by Alisa Mullins

You might remember when we broke the news back in December about our undercover investigation at a pig farm in Garland, North Carolina, owned by Murphy Family Ventures, which supplies pig meat to Smithfield Foods. Murphy Family Ventures workers were documented cutting off piglets' tails and pulling out piglets' testicles without any pain relief, among other abuses. You might also remember that at least one employee at the pig farm was fired in response to our investigation. Well, this story just keeps on progressing in the right direction—and that's the way we like it!

Thanks to PETA's undercover work and follow-up, criminal charges have been filed against one of the workers employed by the farm during the undercover investigation.

That worker faces six misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals for actions documented by PETA's investigator, including dragging pigs by the ear, striking a pig in the face with a handling board, and poking a pig in the eyes with his fingers. If he returns to North Carolina from out-of-state, a second worker will face one count of cruelty to animals for also dragging a pig by the ear. FoxNews.com has a great article with more details on the investigation, and you can view footage from the investigation below.

I have to say, it's great to see that the officials who are presiding over the case are taking this one seriously—as seriously, in fact, as they would a case that involved a sadistically tortured dog or cat. And rightfully so: Just like dogs and cats, pigs have the ability to feel pain. And if someone just happened to say that a pig is smarter than a dog or a three-year-old child, well, he or she would be right.

It's about time that these pigs—whose suffering and misery PETA has caught on film—finally get some justice. This case sends a message loud and clear to factory farms and slaughterhouses that cruelty to farmed animals will not be tolerated and that violations of animal welfare laws will have consequences such as, oh, say—a court date.

Posted by Jennifer Cierlitsky