LITTLE ROCK — An animal-welfare group is criticizing Wal-Mart Stores Inc. because it hasn’t joined other retailers making a commitment to end its relationship with pork suppliers that the group says are inhumane in its treatment of animals.
Mercy For Animals this week released a video of an “undercover investigation” of Christensen Farms, a major hog producer based in Sleepy Eye, Minn., that shows pigs locked in small gestation crates. Among other things, the video also shows workers killing sick and weak piglets by hitting them against concrete.
Gestation crates — Mercy For Animals’ main focus — are small metal enclosures where pregnant sows are kept for most of their lives. The crates, banned in several states, make it impossible for the pigs to move more than a few inches or turn around. The nonprofit Mercy For Animals, based in Los Angeles, is funded by donations.
Christensen Farms supplies pork to major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Costco Wholesale Corp. and Sears Holdings Corp., which owns Super Kmart grocery stores.
Deisha Galberth Barnett, a Wal-Mart spokesman, said via e-mail Wednesday that, “We will not tolerate animal mistreatment by our suppliers. As soon as we were made aware of the video, we immediately reached out to our suppliers who source from this farm. If we determine that there was mistreatment, we will take action.”
She added that, “We currently offer gestation cratefree pork products in a number of stores across the U.S.”
On Tuesday, Costco and Sears Holdings said they had decided to give their pork suppliers 10 years to stop the use of gestation crates, with a warning that the retailers will discontinue their business re- lationship if the crates are still used after that deadline.
While a Christensen Farms spokesman could not be reached for comment Wednesday, the company issued a news release that said Mercy For Animals’ video images are “dated and are intentionally taken out of context.”
Mercy For Animals Director of Education Becca Frye said at a news conference Wednesday in Little Rock that the animal-welfare group had been in contact with Costco and Sears Holdings leading up to the video’s release.
“They had been listening, and we showed them what we had, and at that point” the companies decided to take action, Frye said.
She said her group has been in discussions with Bentonville-based Wal-Mart for two months, and that Fred Bedore, Wal-Mart’s director of strategy, viewed the Christensen Farms video Monday. Frye said the retailer asked for some additional details but made no move to change its policies.
Costco and Sears Holdings’ move away from gestation crates comes after similar steps by companies such as Kroger, Safeway and major fast-food restaurant chains.
“We believe that a gestation crate-free environment is more humane, and we support and appreciate the efforts of pork suppliers to reduce and eliminate the use of gestation crates,” Robin Michel, Sears Holdings’ senior vice president and president for grocery, drug and pharmacy, said in a statement released Tuesday. “While this is a lengthy process, we support the industry for taking steps to make this much needed change and we anticipate and know this will take time.”
Frye said the 10-year deadline is “pretty standard,” and Mercy For Animals would be satisfied if Wal-Mart made a similar commitment.
“We want these animals out of these cages as quickly as possible. If that means longer, at least in 10 years these animals will be out of their suffering,” she said. “Yes, it is a long time, but the ultimate goal is to get rid of gestation crates across the world.”
In a letter sent Tuesday to Costco’s pork suppliers, including Christensen Farms, Doug Schutt, Costco’s executive vice president for marketing, wrote that while gestation crates were designed to stop sow aggression, the company expects suppliers to come up with more humane solutions for housing sows.
“We believe that animals placed in maternity pens should have adequate room to turn around,” he wrote. “Here at Costco, we are encouraging you to make this transition: we want all of the hogs throughout our pork supply chain to be housed in groups with access to safety zones and expect that this transition should be accomplished no later than 2022.”
Frye said Mercy For Animals’ “undercover investigator” worked at the farm in Hanska, Minn., for 10 weeks early this year. The person applied for the job and didn’t violate any laws, she said.
Christensen’s statement said that in February, the company adopted the use of carbon dioxide euthanasia to kill sick and injured piglets and is phasing out the blunt-force trauma method.
Tyson Foods Inc., the Springdale-based meat giant, has also come under recent criticism for its use of gestation crates.
About 250,000 people have signed a petition asking Tyson to discontinue the use of the crates in its supply chain. The petition was created by animal-welfare group Humane Society of the United States and a liberal consumer advocate website, SumOfUs.org.
Tyson is not taking immediate action.
“Earlier this year, we called on the hog farming industry to accelerate research into improved housing and production practices,” company spokesman Worth Sparkman said in an e-mailed statement. “Tyson buys hogs from thousands of family farms, many of whom have individual sow housing, some of whom have group pen sow housing. Experts believe both housing systems are humane for the sows when managed properly.”
Frye said Mercy For Animals is also lobbying the government in hopes of enacting stricter regulations and laws protecting pigs in factory farms.
“Pigs are every bit as capable of feeling pain as our beloved cats and dogs, and therefore they deserve the same protection,” she said.
Business, Pages 25 on 07/19/2012