PETA Will Confront Hormel Shareholders With Video Showing Unlawful Cruelty on Supplier's Farm

At Annual Meeting, Group to Grill Execs After Workers at Hormel Supplier Are Hit With 22 Charges of Animal Abuse

For Immediate Release:
January 25, 2010

Contact:
Lindsay Rajt 757-622-7382

Austin, Minn. -- Holding signs that read, "No More Pig Crates,"
"Ban Electric Shocks," and "Hormel: Prioritize Animal Welfare," PETA members will confront Hormel shareholders outside the company's annual meeting Tuesday in Austin. The PETA members will also screen video from PETA's investigation of a factory farm that supplies piglets to Hormel. Six former employees--five of whom have already pleaded guilty--are charged with a total of 22 counts of neglect and abuse based on PETA's findings. Inside the meeting, a representative of PETA, which owns stock in Hormel, will present a statement in support of PETA's shareholder resolution calling on Hormel to adopt a nine-point plan to curb many of the abuses that PETA documented.

When:   Tuesday, January 26: 7-8 p.m. demonstration; 8 p.m. shareholder meeting

Where:  Austin High School, 301 N.W. Fourth St., Austin

The following incidents were among the abuses that PETA documented on the factory farm:

* A supervisor shoved a cane into a sow's vagina, struck her on the back approximately 17 times, and then struck another sow.
* Pigs were beaten with metal gate rods, and more than 30 sows had lacerations, which were evidence of further abuse. 
* One worker hit a young pig in the face four times with the edge of a board, and investigators witnessed dozens of similar incidents involving other workers. 
* A supervisor kicked a young pig in the face, abdomen, and genitals to make her move, saying, "You gotta beat on the bitch. Make her cry."

PETA's nine-point plan includes requiring that all suppliers phase out the use of cruel gestation crates for all pigs, ban electric shock devices, install cameras in all animal areas, improve training for supervisors, and implement transparent annual audits to ensure that animal welfare standards are followed.

"Hormel's reputation has been damaged by scenes of blatant, unforgivable cruelty to pigs who had nowhere to run from these workers," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "If shareholders don't want their company to be linked to animal abuse, we advise them to support our resolution."

PETA's shareholder resolution is available upon request. For more information, please visit PETA.org.