Just how greedy are pork producers? The National Meat Association (NMA) is challenging a California law that requires the euthanasia of pigs who are too weak or sick to stand when they arrive at slaughterhouses. A lawyer representing the NMA noted that this means that many slaughterhouses would have to euthanize up to 300 pigs every single day—a “financial impact” that the pork industry apparently is not willing to take lying down.
The U.S. Supreme Court will consider the case next week in order to decide whether states have the authority to implement laws like this one governing slaughterhouses. If the justices rule in favor of California, the case could set a precedent that would encourage more states to enact broader animal welfare laws for pigs and other animals.
Does the meat industry need to be required by law to do the right thing? You bet it does. Downed animals are often dragged, prodded, or bulldozed into the slaughterhouse. PETA’s investigations at pig factory farms have shown that workers beat, kick, and bludgeon sick or injured animals with gate rods and hammers and slam them against concrete floors. A PETA undercover investigator at a Hormel supplier’s pig-breeding factory farm in Iowa saw a supervisor kick an injured pig as she dragged herself out of a crate and a worker laugh as the supervisor shot her in the head with a captive-bolt gun.
Don’t wait for the courts to do the right thing. Rule in animals’ favor today by adopting a healthy vegan diet and encouraging everyone you know to do the same.
Written by Heather Faraid Drennan
