Behind Closed Doors...

In over 1,500 factory farms throughout Australia the worth of a female pig is determined by how many piglets she can produce each litter. She is allowed to ‘live’ for as long as her body can physically endure the demands of being kept continually pregnant and confined, standing with minimal movement on a hard floor. Female pigs in factory farms are treated as breeding machines. They endure a cycle of suffering and deprivation.

Their behavioural, mental and emotional needs are irrelevant. Exercise is not allowed. Space means money. They exist to create profit.

The Maternity Suite...

In Australia, the majority of the 300,000 female breeding pigs (sows) are kept inside sheds continually pregnant and confined.

It is these animals that produce the piglets destined to become bacon, ham and pork products. Most sows are confined for at least some of their 16 week pregnancy in tiny metal individual stalls, (and one third for the entire pregnancy!) so small they are unable to turn around. At best they can take a small step forward.

They have no bedding. They are forced to stand or lie on hard floors. These ‘sow stalls’ as the industry calls them have been banned in Britain for welfare reasons and are being phased out in the European Union.

The Nursery...

Just prior to giving birth, they are moved to a ‘nursery’ which would outrage every Australian mother. Pending mothers are confined in an even smaller area where their body is encircled by metal bars to even further limit their movement.

Mother pigs are provided with no bedding or straw to make a birthing ‘nest’, so she has no choice but to give birth to her piglets on a hard floor. Nurturing and interacting with her young is impossible as a cruel metal frame imprisons her.

She will watch on helplessly as her babies have their teeth clipped, their tails cut off, and are castrated without pain relief. Her young are removed after 3 or 4 weeks, she is impregnated again, and the cycle of suffering and deprivation continues.

A day eventually comes when for the first time in her life she experiences sun on her back and fresh air to breathe. What she doesn’t know as she is loaded on that truck, so lame, ill or ‘unproductive’ that she is no longer capable of creating profit, is that it is also to be the last day of her life...

Why is this information omitted from the Australian Pork Industry promotional website and in their public advertising campaigns? They know that their profits rest on keeping unwitting consumers ignorant of the cruelty they are responsible for.

Every one of us who cares about the plight of these animals has the power to end this barbaric method of ‘farming’ animals. You can make a difference, make the Pro Pig Pledge today!