New undercover investigation at a pig farm reveals cruelty the industry is fighting to keep

Mercy For Animals investigation into a pig-breeding facility reveals atrocities as Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments on gestation crates

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Mercy For Animals on Tuesday released a new undercover investigation exposing the cruelty of gestation crates, metal enclosures used to contain mother pigs during their pregnancies. The never-before-seen footage reveals the horror of these crates just as the Supreme Court prepares to hear oral arguments in National Pork Producers Council v. Ross, the pork industry's challenge to California's 2018 ballot initiative that provides more space to calves, pigs, and hens and bans the sale of veal, pork, and egg products from animals in cramped confinement, such as mother pigs in gestation crates.

A Mercy For Animals investigator captured footage of these horrors and more:

• Pregnant pigs confined to cramped gestation crates—metal cages, each barely larger than the pig's body—unable to lie down comfortably or even turn around. Deprived of mental stimulation, these pigs are driven mad by boredom and stress. They repeatedly bite the bars of their cages, a sign of serious mental collapse.
• Sick and injured pigs, some with bloody wounds from cage bars, left to suffer without proper veterinary care.
• Days-old pigs having their testicles ripped out and tails cut off with no pain relief.
• Pigs and piglets violently kicked, struck, stabbed, and thrown carelessly.

"The majority of Americans agree that confining mother pigs in crates barely larger than their bodies is cruel and unacceptable," said AJ Albrecht, managing director, U.S. and Canada, at Mercy For Animals. "Common sense tells us that pigs should be able to walk, run, and socialize. Keeping highly intelligent, social animals confined for nearly their entire lives in cages so cramped they can't even turn around is blatant cruelty. Mercy For Animals is hopeful that the Supreme Court of the United States will uphold the will of California voters. But regardless of the court's decision, the public's desire to defend farmed animals is clear. That's why we are urging Congress to add protections for pigs and other farmed animals to the upcoming Farm Bill."

Proposition 12, or the Farm Animal Confinement Initiative, is a landmark California law that bans in-state intensive confinement of laying hens, pregnant pigs, and calves used for veal and prohibits the sale in California of products resulting from such cruel confinement. In 2019, the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) and American Farm Bureau Federation brought a challenge against Prop 12 to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, but the court dismissed the case in 2020, firmly upholding Californians' right to eliminate cruel and unsafe products from their state. In 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal. But in March, the Supreme Court took up the case. On October 11, the justices will hear oral arguments on NPPC v. Ross that could overturn Prop 12.

Mercy For Animals is a leading international nonprofit working to end industrial animal agriculture by constructing a just and sustainable food system. Active in Brazil, Canada, India, Mexico, and the United States, the organization has conducted more than 100 investigations of factory farms and slaughterhouses, moved more than 300 food companies to adopt animal welfare policies, and helped pass historic legislation to ban cages for farmed animals. Join us at MercyForAnimals.org.

SOURCE Mercy For Animals