Hormel Charged With Pig Farm Animal Cruelty

A sick pig sprayed down with blue paint by farm workers for no good reason

Peta’s investigation in a pig farm resulted in 22 criminal charges against Hormel in the state of Iowa. Pigs are severely abused and suffer from major neglect in ways most unimaginable. Pigs, as other livestock animals in America’s meat farms suffer immense cruelty from being sprayed down with paint, electrocution, neutered without anesthesia to being beaten and kicked like worthless objects. Pigs in particular are extremely intelligent and have been compared to human’s age six—they feel pain, experience love and loss. If you are a meat eater, please go organic, where they roam free and are treated with respect and compassion. Read the full article here.
11/3/08 Addendum

Hormel issued an email blast (at least to petitionists) below disclaiming that the pig farm cruelty expose was not about them, although I went to their site and found no such rebuttal – here is the email (not sure if it’s real or not):

A video was released the evening of September 16, 2008 that showed images from a hog farm in Iowa. It is important to note that the farm in the video is not a Hormel Foods’ farm and the people are not Hormel Foods’ employees.We find the images in this video appalling and they are inconsistent with our standards and industry standards for animal handling.

The abuse on the video depicted practices that are completely unacceptable.

We expect all current suppliers to adhere to the proper animal handling standards from day one and continue to do so throughout our relationship. We are working with our supplier to ensure this activity is no longer taking place, and they are investigating this matter and will take appropriate disciplinary actions, including terminating employees. Underscoring our company’s zero tolerance policy, we have in the past
terminated employees, truckers and contracts with producers when animal welfare issues have arisen.

Animal welfare and animal husbandry have always been top priority at Hormel Foods. This is simply about treating animals humanely because it’s the right thing to do. We take our zero tolerance policy for the inhumane treatment of animals very seriously and have implemented many standards outlined in our responsibility report :
http://www.hormelfoods.com/responsibility/process/animalWelfare.aspx.

Rochelle Kroc
Manager Of Consumer Response

Filed under: animal cruelty, farm animals, humane farming, local issues , animal cruelty charges, farm animals, hormel, iowa, pig cruelty, pig farm, pork

Donate to Prop 2 Today – They Need Our Help

Donate here! Please help farm animals in the biggest bill ever in California!

Filed under: Take Action, animal cruelty, humane organizations, local issues , animal laws, California, Chickens, cows, farm animals, humane society of the U.S., humane treatment of farm animals, pigs, Prop 2, wayne parcell

My Road to Vegetarianism

Ok, the day has come (actually, it was a few days ago) when I’ve decided to become a vegetarian. This is a day that I’ve put off for a long time, because damn it, I was raised a carnivore. It’s a conundrum since I am such an advocate for animals, and I’m hugely opposed to inhumane farming and fur. So now going on 3 days without meat, and it has not been that difficult. I will not assume that I will succeed completely, as I will start with cutting meat from my diet but will continue to consume lactose, and hopefully I will not cheat a taste of bacon every now and then… I’m trying, and you gotta give me credit for that. Animal friends, I am with you.

Filed under: Take Action, friends , carnivores, life change, vegetarian

Slaughtering of Rabbits For Fur

When it comes to anti-fur topics, we often focus on fox, seals, horses, minks and many helpless exotic animals, even tigers. We must not forget about rabbits. Each year in China and France, millions of rabbits are slaughtered for fur. In these horrible conditions, rabbits are often inproperly electrically stunned and hung by their legs , while their throats are slit and bleeding out, they are often still alive, twitching, suffering in the most disheartening ways.

The following video is an undercover video, narrated by Gillian Andersen of the X-files. It exposes the unspeakable cruelty and horror of rabbit slaughter farms in China and France. Whether you’re a fan of PETA or not, this truth is out there. This targets particular Giorgio Armani, one of the largest patron of using rabbit fur for their fashion line. Please take action by filling out this guided letter template to be sent to the fashion house. Please spread the word to your friends, and please read the label on your winter jackets.

Filed under: Take Action, animal cruelty, corporations that fund cruel practices, farm animals, international issues , china, cruelty to animals, farm animals, fashion fur, france, fur, giorgio armani, inhumane, peta, rabbit farm, rabbits, slaughter

Plastic in the Ocean

via L studio/Lexus

Lexus put out this promotional site called L Studio and I found this visualization story on how plastic is polluting and harming our oceans across the globe. Check out the video

Filed under: international issues, ocean , earth, environment, ocean life, plastic in the ocean

Why I Do This

If I had to tell someone what are the most important issues to me today, I will say, the world, in general because it is heading downhill. But what I really want to say is, ANIMALS. Maybe my mom’s wise words to me about how to treat others and always put myself in someone’s shoes in life, had an affect on me. where there are helpless people suffering in the world, there are even more helpless animals. Because animals feel but can’t speak for themselves, I feel the need to speak for them, even if it’s in a little blog like mine. I’m just mad as hell because there is so much tragedy surrounding animals, in every part of the world, in every region, every city street. I don’t know why humans exploit them, and when they run out of ways to do that, they would find more unthinkable, crueler ways to exploit them more. I’m mad as hell that there are not more people out there doing something, but at the same time, I’m thankful that there ARE so many people who DO. The most important animal issues to me are: Chinese fur farms (killing of dogs and cats in extremely cruel ways), Canadian seal hunt, puppy mills, hunting of any animals, animal testing, inhumane farming, and animal education. Friends, speak up!

Filed under: Global Warming, Resources, Take Action, animal cruelty , animal advocacy

Chinese Fur

A dog near death about to be bashed on the head by a bat.

If you know what they do to poor dogs and cats in China (and Korea) to get the fur onto the trims of your winter coat, you might rethink what to buy this year. Many people are already sickened by the fur industry, however, when you think about companion animals as these victims, your heart would just break. CauseCast is featuring a video on the this page showing how they kill these animals, and I could not watch pass the first dog or puppy being head-bashed into cement and hit on its head by a Chinese dog killer at this fur farm. Animal groups say that these poor animals sometimes are not completely dead and die slowly in so much pain, until they strip the fur off their back, often still alive.

Watch the video on this page, click on the right “latest videos” module – “PETA2: Chinese Fur” (sorry the site did not let me embed this video.

Filed under: animal cruelty, dogs and cats, international issues, local issues , animal cruelty, chinese dogs and cats, chinese fur farms, fashion

CauseCast – Connect With Those Who Cares

My friends at the interactive agency THE GROOP designed this amazing website for CauseCast, a website about important causes and philanthropy. One of the main issues it covers is animals, of course, which automatically peaked my interest. It’s a beautifully designed site, with many causes to engage anyone who wants to do good.  Please check it out and let’s do something for animals and people alike.

Filed under: Resources, Take Action, friends , animals, causecast, causes, the groop