AP Exclusive: Video shows workers abusing pigs (WARNING: GRAPHIC)

[Zomby Woof]

This breaks my heart and is absolutely sickening. I don't care if I ever eat pork again. I knew conditions on pig farms could be wretched, but to this extent... it's beyond inexcusable, utterly indefensible.

AP Exclusive: Video shows workers abusing pigs

By FREDERIC J. FROMMER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - An undercover video shot at an Iowa pig farm shows workers hitting sows with metal rods, slamming piglets on a concrete floor and bragging about jamming rods up into sows' hindquarters.

On the video, obtained by The Associated Press, a supervisor tells an undercover investigator for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals that when he gets angry or a sow won't move, "I grab one of these rods and jam it in her (anus)."

The farm, located outside of Bayard, Iowa, about 60 miles west of Des Moines, is a supplier to Hormel Foods of Austin, Minn. PETA wants to use the results of the investigation to pressure Hormel, the maker of Spam and other food products, to demand that its suppliers ensure humane treatment of pigs.

Hormel spokeswoman Julie Henderson Craven on Tuesday called the abuses "completely unacceptable."

The animal rights group also planned to send the video to the sheriff in Greene County, Iowa, seeking prosecution of 18 people on animal cruelty violations. According to PETA Vice President Bruce Friedrich, the video shows eight people directly abusing animals.

"Abuse on factory farms is the absolute norm, not the exception, and anyone eating factory-farmed meat is paying to support it," Friedrich said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080916/ap_on_re_us/abused_pigs_1

[jpgray]

1. Kill the pig, cut her throat, bash her in, etc.?

Bleagh. x(

[silverweb]

2. Heartbreaking.

Sickening. Those poor innocent creatures.

[yewberry]

3. Ouch. That's some awful stuff.

Thanks, ZW, for spreading the word.