Pigs

I received this letter from HSUS.org telling of an humane victory for pigs and just had to share it with you. This is a very worthy organization and there are many things that can be done that are not monetary. Supporting these causes by contacting your senator is just one way.

HSUS President & CEO Wayne Pacelle

Dear Bobbie,
I have some great news to share with you. Smithfield Foods, Inc., the nation's largest pork producer with 1.2 million breeding sows, announced today it will phase out the confinement of pigs in gestation crates over the next decade.

You may recall ballot initiatives in Arizona and Florida where The HSUS led the way for breeding pigs. In 2002, Florida voters approved a ban on gestation crates in their state, and in 2006, Arizona voters did likewise, in spite of a well-financed opposition campaign from factory farming interests.

Gestation crates are 2-foot by 7-foot metal cages used to confine breeding pigs for months on end. Pigs confined suffer leg and joint problems and psychosis resulting from extreme boredom and frustration. Confinement in gestation crates is so abusive that the entire European Union is phasing out the practice, with a total ban taking effect in 2013.

The move by Smithfield is an earthquake for the pork industry. This is a clear signal from a top producer that this cruel confinement has no place in the agricultural sector. With the recent political victories against gestation crates and now this news from Smithfield, the writing is certainly on the wall: gestation crate confinement will soon become a thing of the past.

Thank you for all you do for animals every day--please consider this your victory as well.

Sincerely,Wayne Pacelle
President & CEO The Humane Society of the United States