Pig farming:
Here are some of those cruel methods used today:
Gestation Crates- confine breeding sows (mother pigs who are going to have
piglets). The crates are only a couple feet wide and don't let mother pig to move or even turn around. After
the piglets are born, the sow and her babies are put in farrowing crates, which are just as cruel. All she can do is
stand there while she feeds her piglets until they are taken from her to be fattened up so they can be dinner. At this
time, the sow will be impregnated AGAIN! If she can no longer have piglets, she will be slaughtered.
This confinement causes pigs to take on abnormal behaviours like gnawing
on the crate bars, biting their tails (which is why some farmers now do tail docking), and frothing at the mouth.
In Animal Liberation, by Peter Singer, I read that of all the animals eaten
in the western world, Pigs are the most intelligent. They may even be smarter than dogs. They have to be intellectually
stimulated, like a dog but in crates they suffer from extreme boredom, thus causing the destructive behaviours described above.
