Rabble.ca reports on one aspect of animal cruelty in Canadian agriculture.

[JohnyCanuck]

Investigator Twyla Francois exposes the practice of tooth breaking and boar bashing in Canada
By Anita Krajnc


Based on her investigative studies, Twyla Francois reported on the common practice of tooth cutting and boar bashing at Canadian pig holding stations and auctions before boars are transported for slaughter.

These torturous practices take place as a way of saving money for the animal agriculture industry. Transport regulations require that all boars be segregated on transport so that they do not fight one another. Instead of putting up metal dividers to separate the boars, haulers save money by ensuring that boars loaded on together suffer such great pain that they will not fight one another even if packed in tightly together without dividers. Twyla says the boars she has seen on transport trucks "cower in pain."

Two things, says Twyla, are done to boars to cause them great pain: (1) tooth breaking and (2) boar bashing. After spending their lives in crates (just as sows do), boars used for semen have their teeth broken just before they are sent to slaughter. Bolt cutters are used to cut directly into the innervated tooth canal and shatter the tooth up to the gum line, causing extreme suffering.

Secondly, workers at holding stations and auctions break the boar's noses with a baseball bat or crow bar. Though this second practice is illegal, Twyla says every boar she has seen in transport since 2005 has been bashed. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has refused to enforce any of the cases of boar bashing she has brought before the government regulators.

http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/anita-krajnc/2011/04/investigator-twyla-francois-exposes-practice-tooth-breaking-and-

[shockedcanadian]

1. It always disgusts me to read about animal cruelty

The question that always comes to my mind is, what would these people do under the right circumstances to other human beings?

[JohnyCanuck]

2. Yes, similar thoughts have crossed my mind as well. n/t