Images now circulating of violent animal abuse and the public reaction shows why producers must treat their animal well, says the chair of the Manitoba Farm Animal Council.
“If people get really worried about how people are treating animals, they won’t buy the meat,” said Garry Tolton, who is also a pig farmer.
“We’re very concerned that people do a good job of raising their animals.”
The North Carolina hog industry has been rocked by charges brought against three hog barn workers for abusing animals. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an animals rights organization, says one of its members infiltrated a hog barn and used a secret camera to videotape horrific abuse of pigs.
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The videotape shows workers bludgeoning pigs with crowbars, forcing a cane into a sow’s vagina, and skinning and sawing the legs off of a still-living sow.
One worker pretended to tap dance on top of another downed but still living pig.
PETA is using the videotape to lobby against aid for U.S. pig producers and claims abuse is widespread in the hog industry.
“Animals are abused behind the scenes on farms every day and consumers haven’t a clue about it,” Mary Beth Sweetland of PETA said in a news release.
Poor treatment, poor meat
Tolton said the Manitoba hog industry is progressive and teaches employees how to handle pigs in a humane manner. He said producers understand that badly treated pigs produce poor quality meat.
“They don’t tolerate bad herdsmanship,” said Tolton.
In the last couple of years, the Manitoba Pork Council has been urging and teaching producers how to humanely handle, move and load pigs.
Hog barn workers are taught humane treatment as an integral component of basic training, Tolton said.
To try to reach urban consumers with the message that livestock are treated well on Manitoba farms, the Manitoba Farm Animal Council runs various publicity programs.
At the recent Red River Exhibition in Winnipeg, the animal council set up mini-farms, in which people could see how animals are housed and cared for on Manitoba farms.
Dairy cattle, poultry and hogs were all involved in the Touch the Farm display.
Situations like the one in North Carolina can upset consumers, but Tolton said reaching out before there are problems can create more understanding among the public about farming.
“This only serves to remind us that we have to do more,” said Tolton.
