Egregious animal abuse in the human food industry is nothing new. What was new yesterday, December 12 2007, was that a major media outlet, FoxNews.com, put it front and central on its website.
The shocking story, by Catherine Donaldson-Evans, is headed "North Carolina Authorities Investigate Alleged Pig Abuse by Supplier for Largest U.S. Pork Producer" and is now on line at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,316624,00.html
It opens:"A local prosecutor in North Carolina is investigating allegations of animal cruelty by a pig farm supplying Smithfield Foods, the nation's largest pork producer. The investigation comes after an animal rights activist secretly videotaped workers beating and dragging swine, gouging out their eyes and cutting out their testicles."
We read:"In the black-and-white video, a supervisor can be heard bragging to the undercover PETA investigator that he brutally beats the animals."'I ain't going to lie to you; I've done it,' he says. 'My temper is about that long. I get f- frustrated and I have knocked the s- out of them. Like that one bit me the other morning, that mother f-.... I cut the s- out of his G-d- nose with a f- gate rod.'"
In other segments, pigs who have the word 'KILL' spray-painted on their backs screech in apparent pain as they're dragged to slaughter with a heavy metal prodder attached to their legs, ears and snouts, and women laugh as they castrate one piglet after another without anesthesia or painkillers.
The FoxNews site asks you to "Click here to see the video," with the link taking you to http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/smithfield_investigation
At that link you can watch the shocking video, and hear the horrible screams, and, most importantly, you can send a message to Smithfield. Please visit the link (you do not have to click and watch the video if you cannot stand to) and lodge your complaint.
And please, send a huge thank you to Fox News for featuring this story. It is vital that stations learn that the public appreciates coverage of animal issues. Send your comments to Yourcomments@foxnews.com
Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn
(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line. If somebody forwards DawnWatch alerts to you, which you enjoy, please help the list grow by signing up. It is free.)
