Hormel pork supplier charged

An Iowa Sherriff has announced that 22 charges of livestock neglect and abuse have been filed against six current and former employees of the Hormel supplier that PETA recently investigated. For more than three months, PETA went undercover at an Iowa pig factory farm, which supplies piglets who are raised and killed for Hormel products. They found rampant cruelty to animals committed by workers and supervisors. Abuse and neglect were widespread during the entire investigation.

These are just some of the abuses that were documented:

- A supervisor shoved a cane into a sow's vagina, struck her on the back about 17 times, and then struck another sow.
- Multiple pigs were beaten with metal gate rods, and lacerations were found on more than 30 sows, which is probably evidence of more abuse.
- A worker hit a young pig in the face four times with the edge of a herding board, and investigators witnessed dozens of similar incidents involving this worker and 11 other workers.
- Two men, including a supervisor, were witnessed jabbing clothespins into pigs' eyes and faces. - A supervisor also poked two animals in the eyes with his fingers.
- A supervisor kicked a young pig in the face, abdomen, and genitals to make her move and told PETA's investigator, "You gotta beat on the bitch. Make her cry."

To learn more about the investigation and charges, go to: http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/iowa_pigfarm_abuse2

And btw, findings on this Iowa pig farm, however, were not limited to cruelty to animals. PETA also documented an apparent violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Animals who were to be killed for human consumption were sprayed with a substance that contains gentian violet (a chemical that is linked to certain cancers) thereby making their flesh "adulterated" under federal law.

By purchasing pigs bred and born on this farm and then grown elsewhere before being slaughtered for Hormel products, Hormel is financially supporting an operation whose employees abuse animals. If you eat meat, look for local, humanely raised and slaughtered animals and if you live in California, vote 'yes' on proposition 2 to protect farm animals from abuse.