For the first time, pigs have been documented using tools, according to a recent study published in the journal Mammalian Biology. Ecologist Meredith Root-Bernstein and her team recorded a family of rare pigs at a zoo in Paris picking up pieces of bark and digging with them while building their nests.
Pigs are friendly, inquisitive and smart animals who are at least as sensitive and intelligent as the dogs who share our hearts and homes. They lead complex social lives, bond and communicate with one another, are known to dream and learn through trial and error. They have unique personalities and experience a wide range of emotions.
They can recognize themselves in a mirror and can use mirrors to find food that has been hidden from them. They recognize their names and will come when called--if they like you. They are also some of the most abused animals on the planet, as PETA's new video exposé of a decrepit pig farm in Indiana reveals.
An eyewitness found that mother pigs were crammed into metal crates barely any larger than their own bodies. Up to 1,200 pigs at this farm spend most of their miserable lives like this. The video shows others so crowded in pens that they couldn't move.
They were impregnated repeatedly. And when it was time to give birth, they were confined to crates that were even more restrictive and that prevented them from tending to their babies. They spent day and night lying immobile on the slatted floor.
Pigs are naturally very clean and, given sufficient space, don't soil the areas where they eat or sleep. At this farm, however, they were forced to live amid feces and just above the reeking pit that held their manure, which continuously backed up beneath the slatted floor.
PETA's video spotlights just one farm, but cruelty in the pork industry is rampant and routine.
Pigs used for breeding are commonly confined to crates so small that they can't walk or even turn around. Their muscles atrophy, and they're chronically sore and stiff. They never get to engage in any natural behavior.
Most of us couldn't stomach the idea of treating dogs like this. It should be equally unacceptable to treat pigs in this manner. The best way to spare pigs (and other farmed animals) enormous pain and suffering is to stop eating them and instead choose vegan foods. With so many delicious, healthy options, it's never been easier.
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Colin Henstock is the assistant manager of investigations in the Cruelty Investigations Department at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Editorial on 10/17/2019