I was watching stateline, a local news and current affairs programme last night when a segment reduced me to tears. A northern Tasmanian piggery was visited by animal rights activist Emma Haswell and the images that were shown on television last night were absolutely horrific in their cruelty.
I just could not believe my eyes. The conditions inside this factory farm were just atrocious.Pigs were lying in these tiny, tiny steel cages being eaten alive by maggots in open wounds and as the tears were streaming down my face I felt terribly ashamed and appalled that we could allow animals to live in such horrible conditions.
The piggery that was shown last night supplied Woolworths with pork. Well Fuck you woolworths! And an even bigger Fuck You to factory pig farmers. I absolutely refuse to eat pork, ham and bacon from now on unless I know that it was ethically produced.
No more ‘Mrs Nice Guy’ wandering around the supermarket thinking about some pork choppies because they were on special.No Fucking way is my consumer dollar going to support this hideous industry.
No Fucking Way…
This video is from SaveBabe.com and whilst I found it uncomfortable to watch it is like a holiday camp prepared to the Tasmanian factory farm.
Comments on this entry are closed.
Wow.
Veronicas last blog post..Just Asking
HOW do you know if something is ethically produced?? I like the cage-free eggs when I can get them.
I think we ought to be able to eat meat but it saddens me that animals are treated so. :[
Mrs. Cs last blog post..No Spelling Today.
@ Mrs C Ethically produced means different things to different people. For me Ethically produced meat is from free-range animals that are allowed to behave like animals before we eat them. I am lucky enough that I can source most of my meat locally from small farmers or friends and I know that the animals have had a decent life and were killed quickly and humanely. I keep my own free range chickens and we also eat wallaby (small kangaroo) which are killed quickly and humanely. I wont buy cage eggs and I also wont buy most well known brands of frozen chicken that also come from intensive factory farms. *sigh*
I don’t know how you buy your groceries but maybe you could just ask your local butcher where he gets his meat from? Even if you ask at your supermarket how the meat is produced you are letting the supermarkets know that you care where your food is coming from. cheers kim
Here’s how to email Woolies:
http://www.woolworths.com.au/contactus/index.asp
This is what I bashed out—feel free to use any or all of it if you feel like it:
Hello
I am horrified to see how out of touch Woolworths is with its suppliers that it takes trespassing activists to let the company know about the sickening conditions of the pigs in your suppliers’ care that has come to light recently.
If you think a list of suggested improvements and a follow up once a fortnight is an appropriate response you are deluded. People are incensed about this! I would be on their doorstep daily if I valued my reputation and animal welfare meant anything to me apart from brand image.
I think the company has under-estimated how much this has and will continue to tarnish your reputation. I am shocked that this is how the company wants to be seen!
Sincerely
Pete Goding
I don’t do most of our shopping but it does seem in any case that meat products are *expensive,* more so than noodles/ breads.
And Woodjie is allergic to dairy AND eggs… did you know most meats are dairy products? Slathered in butter and God-knows what else before it hits the shelves.
A bit off-topic, but thought you would like to read this interesting article anyhoo. Written by a blog friend of mine in a Muslim land.
http://elementaryteacher.wordpress.com/2007/12/29/my-feelings-about-the-day-of-sheep-sacrifice-and-how-they-have-changed-over-the-years-part-seven-of-a-seven-part-series/
Mrs. Cs last blog post..No Spelling Today.
I try to buy free-range wherever possible and/or affordable. Lamb and beef is mostly produced and slaughtered locally and is usually ok. Pork I can sometimes buy free-range at at a nearby Farmers Market and free-range chicken is obtainable at all local supermarkets. I also only buy free-range eggs either from the Farmers market or from local people who have an occasional excess. But sausages, bacon and other smallgoods are a bit of a gamble, one I may have to think more about…. Overall we are eating less meat than we used to but I’m not ready to give it up yet.
After watching the organic practices on eco shows (like River Cottage, etc) and then comparing the awful battery farming of all animals it just doesn’t make sense and is so horrendously amoral.
Jaynes last blog post..Love horse racing? Pass the mustard and sharpen your cutlery!
Please lobby Woolies–it doesn’t take long and it just might shake them up.
I’ve told them people are incensed but there’s nothing like direct feedback from individuals to convince them.
Sounding off to each other here does nothing!
Even the briefest email can increase the pressure!
Pete
@ Pete Goding, thanks for the link to woolworths I will do a post with your letter as the focus either tomorrow or Monday.
@ Mrs C thanks for the link as well 🙂
@ Sharon I am not prepared to give up eating meat either sharon. I like it too much but I am prepared to pay more for meat and meat products that have been produced humanely. The images of those poor pigs in those tiny cages have made me furious. and if by posting about it I can just get one person to think about where their meat is coming from I will be happy.
@ Jayne.. Exactly it is hideously wrong. So wrong in fact that I have put extra nails in my soapbox because I reckon that I will be standing on it for a while..
Mrs C – it’s not just a matter of feeling “sad” for the animals but “Oh well. Ya gotta eat so what can you do?”. What was being done to those pigs in Tasmania (where I am) was one of the most inhumane things I have seen in my life, it was way beyond “a bit sad”. It was on a par with the Asian creeps who skin dogs alive and throw them in a pile to die an agonisingly slow death.
But if you can’t stop eating pork for moral reasons try this – THESE PIGS ARE BEING EATEN ALIVE BY MAGGOTS AND THEN YOU ARE EATING THIS STUFF!!! Your breakfast bacon is being produced in conditions so putrid and disgusting I wanted to disinfect my eyes after just viewing it on tv. What kind of person is happy to go on blissfully feeding their faces with meat produced in these conditions??? For the sake of your own health at least, stop eating the stuff unless you get it from someone you know and you’ve seen how it’s produced. Make the pork industry look after the welfare of it’s pigs and that will in turn improve the health and welfare of us humans who eat them.
@ Jacki,I agree that the conditions at the piggery were horrendous but I dont think attacking Mrs C will help the pigs very much. You could copy/paste the letter in the comments by pete golding and follow his link to Woolworths or write your own letter to Woolworths expressing your outrage if you like or you could click the links in my post to savebabe.com. Brightside farm sanctuary or Animals Australia. cheers Kim
Pork chops,loin, roast,no problem, but bacon? Bacon is what keeps me from being vegetarian.
witchypoos last blog post..Seven Things I Love
I already wrote to Woolworths as well as one of the Pork Industry Associations before I landed on your site. No attack intended but I will keep my lips zipped next time.
@ witchypoo I am not suggesting that people become vegetarians lol. I am just saying that we really need to think about where our meat comes from.
@ Jacki thanks for reminding me about the pork industry assosciation and I am sure Mrs C accepts the apology. cheers Kim
the best thing about being in tassie is that it is small, and we have the power as consumers to put people out of business. I will send a letter to them. Havent commented for awhile, the post of David drawing on the window….I do that sometimes which sets a bad example for the kids, nthere is a certain way you can push your face against the glass where you look like a pig!
Oh and to you getting an exhibition space EEEEKKKK
let me know when it is on 🙂 I will be there!
I’ve seen this sort of thing on TV before. It’s one of the things that put me off eating meat.
Jacki, apology accepted, but my comment was meant to say that I don’t buy meat too much because I have a son allergic to DAIRY… which you wouldn’t figure dairy and meat were in the same package.
BTW, I live in Missouri, though I am sure the same sorts of things probably happen nearby.
Mrs. Cs last blog post..No Spelling Today.
Sorry – couldn’t watch the video – can’t watch things like that. (can’t even look at the animals – hens included – on back of trucks going to the market) Am hoping our Woollies gets it’s meat from reliable sources – they say they do. It’s marked ‘free range’. We have stayed, on several occasions, overnight at cottages on a studfarm/farm in the Karoo which supplies mutton/lamb to Woollies and I have no doubt they are ‘free range’ – am hoping all other farmers who supply Woollies are the same.
Avrils last blog post..Skywatch Friday : Yesterday …
Well Tim Brooke-Taylor (yes, I scrolled down and am completely caught up) ….can open…worms everywhere! (or should that be maggots?) It’s disgusting what goes on and it takes people like you to feel so strongly about something and let others know….many people don’t have a clue what goes on in these places or how these animals are treated. If you haven’t read The Book of Meat by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, DO! It’s an excellent read, goes into detail on animal husbandry and makes you take a long hard look at what you are actually eating because at the end of the day, we are putting this crap into OUR bodies…and you are what you eat! My dogs are on a raw diet and eat lots of eggs and chicken so we get through alot and as soon as we have the space I plan to raise my own chucks for eggs and meat, maybe rabbits too but in the meantime I do my best to buy local, free range and organic wherever possible.
Congrats on the up-coming exhibition….and I love your son writing sweet messages in the glass, he’s a genius, way to dissolve an argument!
(((hugs))) to all xx
Dughallmor Beagless last blog post..Beach Walks, Spoiled Brat & Minnie Moo Challenge
I just found out that Woolworths is one of Australia’s biggest owners of poker machines so it looks like we are dealing with a company with scant regard for corporate responsibility.
Pete
BOO BOO to the those cruel horrible people
I will only buy meat if I’m sure it’s free-range and organic. It is sickening what is done to animals just to feed our appetites.
Is your Woolworth’s the same company as the UK one? I hope so because they’ve gone bust over here.
Barbaras last blog post..131/365 – The Witch Had A Cat
I think I’m going to vomit. Kim, this is a WONDERFUL POST! Look at the dialogue you’ve started. I’ve watched shows about the slaughtering of animals and wanted to SCREAM because it happens everywhere and not just in “some countries” like we’d all like to believe.
Now I’m going to skulk off and re-evaluate my meat eating morals.
And the Asians skin dogs alive???? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THIS WORLD?????
Hyphen Mamas last blog post..Forcing myself to focus on the things I love…. for just a minute or two
Good for you bringing this up in blog land. What you’ve seen is just the tip of the iceberg and your reaction is exactly right. It’s crazy that our society conditions us to think that it’s ok to “farm” slaughter and eat other animals. It goes against our instinctual love of animals. Have you seen the reaction of a child the first time they understand that animals are killed to become food?
If you knew the horrors of the slaughterhouse, you’d wish you were vegetarian. It’s worth investigating for yourself, to try to counteract the immense lobbying power of the meat industry. They would have us believe that it’s morally acceptable to eat sentient beings. Don’t believe it. Find out for yourself just what goes on, and if it horrifies you, refuse to be a part of it. (See “Earthlings”)
Going veg is the most powerful way you can change the world. You’ll reduce your carbon footprint enormously: it’s extremely wasteful and polluting to convert crops into meat. You’ll also reduce your risk of arthritis and osteoporosis, and all the major diseases that plague our society, like cancer, diabetes, and cardio-vascular disease. Don’t believe me? Check out the China Study.
There are so many awesome vegetarian products available these days, that you won’t even miss meat. You can still have all your favourite foods, without the cruelty. A whole world of vegetarian cuisine that you’ve been missing out on, will open up to you. Your kids will thank you, and the planet will be a better place for your compassion.
Lara (vegan for 19 years, mum of 2 vegan kids)