David Luciano—winner of the Toronto Film School's Best Director Award—turns the tables on humans in "Dirty Pig," a new short film that's sure to result in lots of forsaken bacon:

The scariest part of "Dirty Pig"? Considering that a pig is smarter than a 3-year-old child, Luciano's bloody role reversal isn't so far from the truth.

Posted by Logan Scherer

petparadise / CC

"I'm thinking about getting a pet pig. Does this mean I'll have to give up pork?"
—tweet from Jessica Simpson

Oh, Jessica … if you start carting around a pig—a complex animal who requires a lot of care and attention—as an accessory while continuing to eat pigs, your reputation won't be the only thing suffering. Pigs are as smart as dogs and every bit as sensitive to pain and stress. Answer this, Jess: If you wouldn't eat your companion, why would you eat his or her friends?

Posted by Logan Scherer

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Nothing ruins a road trip more than seeing an 18-wheeler driving down the highway crammed tight with animals destined for slaughter. From state to state, regardless of weather, animals are carted from factory farms and feedlots—where they suffer short, miserable lives—to slaughterhouses, where their throats are cut or they are scalded alive in baths of hot water. In transit, they are forced to face the blazing summer heat or freezing winter winds while being deprived of food, water, or rest—and sometimes they become the victims of highway accidents.

Today, we're thrilled to report that at PETA's request, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has instructed its 8,000 inspectors in procedures to help enforce the 28-Hour Law—a federal statute requiring that cows, pigs, and other farmed animals be fed, watered, and allowed to rest after 28 hours on the road. As a result of this regulatory nudge, transport conditions will improve for the estimated 50 million farmed animals who are annually transported for long distances and denied their basic necessities.

The FSIS's notice to its inspectors helps address the deplorable treatment of animals in transit from factory farms to slaughterhouses. A former pig transporter told PETA that pigs are "packed in so tight, their guts actually pop out their butts—a little softball of guts actually comes out." In hot weather, many cows who are on their way to slaughter collapse in the heat, and in the cold, cows sometimes freeze to the sides of the truck until workers pry them off with crowbars. Like cows and pigs, chickens are usually given no food or water and are shipped through all weather conditions. People who spot chicken-transport trucks on the highway frequently report seeing the heads of dead and dying chickens protruding from the crates.

We applaud FSIS for informing its inspectors of how they can report suspected violations of the 28-Hour Law for investigation. Of course, the only true way to prevent the suffering of animals used for food is to go vegan, but with these landmark actions, what was once a nightmarish and often fatal trip will hopefully become a little more bearable.

Posted by Logan Scherer

When your full-time job is extracting brains from pigs' heads, irreparable trauma and polyradiculoneuropathy are all in a day's work. Polyradic … huh?

Polyradiculoneuropathy is a painful nerve disorder that attacks the peripheral nerves and the spine nerve roots. Earlier this month, a study revealed that 24 slaughterhouse workers had developed the disease after inhaling pig-brain tissue mist.

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We always knew that working at a slaughterhouse messes with your head, but now we can say it actually attacks your brain.

Posted by Logan Scherer

One Australian farmer could've used our swine flu mask recently, but not for the reason you might think. After smelling what he thought was a gas leak, he called emergency services, and two fire trucks rushed over to his farm. When the fire captain came in, he took one look at the man's pig, and it was immediately apparent that the foul air was a gas problem of a different sort: They were all getting a whiff of the pig's wind.

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If a single sow's fetid flatulence is enough to warrant the attention of 15 firefighters, then imagine the gaseous trail left by the 63 million pigs on factory farms. Turns out that going vegan helps reduce more than one type of gaseous emission.

Posted by Logan Scherer

When I was 16 years old, I was invited to a picnic. When I arrived, I was shocked to realize that I'd actually been invited to a pig roast—big difference. The sight of a whole charred pig turning on a spit with an apple stuck in his mouth was all I needed to convince myself that I'd never eat pork, i.e. pig, again.

The pig was already dead, and I knew nothing about his journey from his mother's womb to the fire pit. I didn't need to—after all, I called myself an "animal lover," so it was a simple, logical decision. If I wouldn't eat my dog, I wasn't going to eat a pig.

Despite the overwhelming evidence that pigs and other animals on factory farms routinely endure horrific abuses, millions of people continue to happily chow down on hot dogs and ham. Today, Fox News offers food for thought—the Web site is featuring exclusive undercover video footage taken by Mercy for Animals at Country View Family Farms, one of Pennsylvania's largest pork producers and a Hatfield Quality Meat supplier.

The video shows a slew of horrors, including workers as they hurl baby pigs and slam them into transport carts, pick piglets up by their ears and tails, cut off the animals' tails with pliers, and rip off their testicles with their bare hands without any painkillers. (The sound of screaming piglets in the video made my skin crawl.) Their squealing mothers are shown scrambling to escape workers who slam spiked mallets into the animals' sides. Many pigs bear sores from their constant confinement—one mother pig suffered an excruciating prolapsed rectum for at least 13 days before she was killed.

Folks, this video is tough to view (I had to pause it three times), but as caring people, we owe it to ourselves and the animals it shows to watch it and then pass it on to others—along with a link to GoVeg.com. You can share the video and the link via e-mail, via a link on your Facebook page, and via "tweets." Anyone you know who still needs convincing that animals suffer on factory farms won't question it after they've watched this footage.

Posted by Karin Bennett

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Hmm. That just might have been our point.

So, it's not safe to allow members of congress and lobbyists to be exposed to factory farms, but it looks like tough luck for the millions of Americans in rural areas who have to live amidst the poisonous waste of factory farms. And although the president has declared swine flu a national emergency, the government continues to prop up the industry that caused the crisis (to the tune of $62.6 million in one year alone—with the possibility of $250 million more in the coming fiscal year).

What do you think?

Posted by Amanda Schinke

What do you get when PETA teams up with Chuck D of Public Enemy and his wife, Dr. Gaye Theresa Johnson, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara; Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine; Serj Tankian of System of a Down; Fletcher Dragge of Pennywise; and every member of Anti-Flag? I'd say you get the most impressive band of musical talent ever to rage against the U.S. military's animal-abuse machine.

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Each of the notables listed above has signed PETA's petition calling on the Department of Defense to end the gruesome, hideously cruel abuse of animals in training exercises, which include stabbing, shooting, and burning live pigs, cutting off goats' legs,and poisoning monkeys. There are better ways to train medics that don't rely on tormenting animals.

Caring people are demanding that the U.S. military follow Bolivia's lead by banning all animal abuse in military training exercises. Join the fight by adding your name to our petition.

Posted by Karin Bennett

The ideal conditions for a "naked" pro-veggie demo include warm weather, a morning show interview with a vegetarian host, hordes of onlookers and media, and volunteers willing to take on—or off—anything to ensure success. Oh, and a super-friendly cop who calls afterwards to say "Thanks!" for putting on a great show.

Those stars aligned for PETA's Amanda Fortino and "naked" volunteers during a stop in San Diego this week.

These are "Grade A" volunteers. They remained so still during the event that some onlookers inched closer to see if they were breathing.

Finish the caption: The photographer in front is wondering _____________.

Our meat trays were a reminder that those neatly wrapped packages of flesh at the supermarket are body parts of cows, pigs, chickens and other animals who suffered terribly on factory farms before they were killed.

Posted by Karin Bennett

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Pot bellied pigs are inquisitive animals who require a lot of care and attention. Paris has burned through Chihuahuas, ferrets, and kinkajous in the past, so there's no reason to think that an animal who will undoubtedly root through her precious Manolos will grow old by her side as her BFF.

Pot-bellied pigs were all the rage in the 80s, a decade that had some truly unfortunate trends, but Paris seems bent on resurrecting them all. It's one thing for her to rake up fashion violations like this, but it's quite another to make animals suffer. If we could have the ex-con arrested for being so uncaring, we would.

Posted by Karin Bennett

Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae is a bacterium that infects pigs—usually on crowded, inhumane factory farms, where infectious diseases such as swine flu spread like wildfire. Erysipelas causes fever, chronic arthritis, heart inflammation, painful skin lesions, and often death. Up until a few weeks ago, most of us at PETA had never heard of erysipelas either.

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There is a vaccine for erysipelas, but each batch produced was tested by infecting pigs with the disease. The test caused the animals immense suffering, which was often followed by death. Enter PETA's scientists, whose heads are no doubt getting a little big right now, what with two big victories in one week.

In August, PETA's Regulatory Testing Division wrote to the USDA asking the agency to follow Europe's example and adopt a non-animal in vitro test for the erysipelas vaccine. We pointed out that the in vitro ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay—try saying that three times fast) test is more humane and is also much more reliable than simply administering the vaccine and seeing whether or not the pigs die. It also helps to ensure vaccine consistency.

Last week, we received a response from the USDA announcing that the test involving the use of pigs will no longer be used. The icing on the cake is that the USDA also said that it is moving away from a hideously cruel method that uses mice to produce antibodies and will instead use a cell culture–based system that is humane and reliable.

Not ones to rest on our laurels, we at PETA are also working to replace animal tests with in vitro tests for tetanus, hepatitis B, whooping cough, clostridium, and leptospirosis vaccines. Already, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is on board when it comes to ending the use of hamsters in the manufacture of leptospirosis vaccines—a decision that will save the lives of about 40,000 hamsters a year. Hopefully, we'll be able to report back with another victory soon.

Posted by Alisa Mullins

In case you forgot how smart, social, and absolutely adorable pigs are, meet Sherlock. Found wandering down a rural road in Suffolk, Virginia, this little guy was captured and taken to the local animal shelter:

When he was found, Sherlock was still a baby, but he was already castrated and his tail had obviously been docked. That means that this plucky little piglet likely fell off a truck headed to a growing/finishing barn—which is what the piggy flesh industry calls the factories that are used to fatten up little pigs like Sherlock for slaughter. On factory farms, piglets are taken away from their moms when they are less than 1 month old. Workers cut off their tails, clip their teeth with pliers, and castrate the males—all without painkillers. The animals spend their entire lives in extremely crowded pens on tiny slabs of filthy concrete. It gets even more heartbreaking when you factor in the abuse that these animals face: A recent undercover investigation of an Iowa pig factory farm, which supplies piglets to Hormel, documented that workers beat pigs with metal rods and sexually abused them with canes.

When one of our fieldworkers saw the headline about Sherlock in the Suffolk paper, she immediately went to work to find this guy a wonderful home. Click here to see how Sherlock's story ends!

Posted by Amy Elizabeth

Who needs a spa treatment when you can rejuvenate your soul by nuzzling 800-pound piggies at an animal sanctuary?

Well, a group of us kids from PETA and the PETA Foundation were lucky enough to do just that over the weekend. An hour north of D.C. lies a spectacular oasis called Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary. It consists of 400 acres devoted entirely to the rehabilitation of abused and/or neglected animals. This past Sunday, Poplar Spring hosted its annual Open House and Fundraiser. I don't think anyone could turn down yummy vegan nosh and cuddle time with the cuties pictured below, do you?

This is Bobby and yours truly. Before coming to the sanctuary, he and his friend Harry had lived their entire lives in cages and were used in insulin experiments. When they arrived at Poplar Spring, both of them were white as snow because they had never seen a single ray of sunshine. The first thing they did when they arrived at Poplar? They dove into a mud pool and stared up in amazement at the trees and stars. What a lucky guy, and such a looker too!

I'm telling you, folks, I highly recommend finding your nearest animal sanctuary and visiting. Or better yet, volunteer! With Thanksgiving coming up, most farm sanctuaries have special Thanksgiving celebrations that honor their turkeys. If my picture doesn't convince you, maybe these will.

Posted by Missy Lane

New clothes and a new crush may get many students excited about school, but the surest way to make someone dread biology class is to mention that cruel old standby, dissection.

Since Steve-O knows that only a "jackass" would force a kid to cut up an animal and call it "science," the Wildboyz star was on hand outside Fairfax High School in Los Angeles this afternoon to kick off Cut Out Dissection Month.

His new ad aims to empower kids to fight for their rights not to dissect on animals and to pressure educators to provide alternatives to dissection.

Every year, nearly 6 million animals, including frogs, rats, pigs, and cats, are cut open in cruel, outdated dissection exercises that teach students to dismiss concerns about animal suffering. It's no secret that many violent offenders, including serial killers get their start abusing animals.

Kinder, more effective alternatives to dissection exist and offer students the opportunity to focus on learning instead of cringing through animal cut-ups. In fact, I'm willing to bet that if all schools implemented only humane biology lessons, students would forever remember that this duodenum, not this one, is found in their small intestine.

Posted by Karin Bennett

P.S. More pics of Steve-O's unveiling after the jump.

In July, thousands of pigs lost their lives when a factory farm in Alberta, Canada, was ravaged by fire. Our friends at Canadians for the Ethical Treatment of Food Animals (CETFA) obtained photos of the aftermath, which show that before succumbing to smoke inhalation, the panicked pigs frantically trampled each another in a futile attempt to escape.

Pregnant sows, trapped in gestation crates, tried desperately to jump out of their stalls or squeeze through the bars. Instead, they died in their cramped prisons. Many of them suffered from ruptured bellies, and their unborn piglets were killed.

On poorly regulated factory farms, where so many animals are crammed together in confined spaces, fires are all too common, and they cause the horrible deaths of thousands of animals.

Please head over to CETFA's Web site right now and support that organization's initiative to prevent the deaths of animals in factory farm fires.

Posted by Jeff Mackey

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So, naturally, when we heard that a prison in McLeansville, North Carolina, was slated for closure, we quickly dispatched a letter to Governor Bev Purdue to ask for her help in turning the soon-to-be-mothballed slammer into the world's first pig empathy museum.

The new museum would be a win-win: It would provide much-needed jobs, plus it would help people better understand pigs and the suffering that factory farms cause them. Visitors could then put what they've learned into practice by enjoying meatless "riblets" or other vegetarian fare, and the kids would take home one of our "Animals Are My Friends" T-shirts.

We think that once people get to know pigs—when people see that pigs are smart, sensitive, and generally adorable—they won't stand idly by when innocent oinkers are treated like hardened criminals.

Posted by Jeff Mackey

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Well, after learning that live pigs are reportedly being shot and stabbed in a California avocado grove owned by police officer David Bishop—all as part of trauma training exercises conducted by Washington-based Deployment Medicine International (DMI)—we were outraged. Not only is it unnecessary to mutilate and kill pigs—or any other animals—for trauma training, but to do so in an avocado grove may be illegal.

That's because Bishop's land isn't zoned for trauma or medical training exercises under the County of San Diego's zoning ordinances. Since San Diego County allows the director of its Department of Planning and Land Use to penalize zoning violators, we've fired off a letter to the current director, Eric Gibson, asking him to investigate Bishop and DMI for illegal activity.

Stabbing and shooting pigs to train medical personnel how to treat human injuries is positively medieval. With all the non-animal methods that are readily available, there are better models of human anatomy and physiology than pigs. Don't animals—and trauma victims—deserve better?

Posted by Jeff Mackey

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After President Obama killed a fly with one swat, media all over the world swarmed PETA for a response. But when landmark cruelty convictions against pig abusers were issued as a result of our undercover investigation, there was barely a buzz.

We know that countless people turn away from upsetting details about how pigs are beaten and sexually abused by pig farmers, raccoons and foxes gnaw their paws off to escape steel-jaw traps set by furriers, and immobilized rabbits writhe when wrinkle creams are smeared into their eyes. And so do many media outlets, lest they anger advertisers and lose money.

So, headlines everywhere mock PETA for suggesting that people consider employing kind methods of dealing with tiny unwanted visitors. Meanwhile, the pigs get zilch. Please help us change that by writing letters to editors to draw attention to this historic victory against animal abusers and spreading the word to your friends and family.

Posted by Karin Bennett

Smithfield states, "Due to recent significant operating losses incurred by our Hog Production segment, we have delayed capital expenditures for the program such that we no longer expect to complete the phase-out within ten years of the original announcement."

These gestation crates that Smithfield is dragging its feet on phasing out are called "iron maidens" after medieval torture devices, and for good reason—sows kept in them cannot turn around, and their muscles atrophy. Over time, pigs kept in these horrid conditions develop sores from lying on filthy concrete and go insane from the confinement.

Consider that just three years' compensation for Smithfield's directors would more than cover the cost of a complete crate phase-out. Smithfield's claim that it can't spare pennies a pig to improve these animals' living conditions makes Ebenezer Scrooge look like a philanthropist and erodes any trust the company hopes to build with its consumers or with PETA.

Once again, animal welfare has taken a backseat to corporate profit. Smithfield can rest assured that we'll be at its annual meeting this August, making sure that pigs are heard.

Posted by Karin Bennett

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Of the defendants—Richard Michael Ralston, Alan Bruce Rettig, Greg William Hackler, and Jordan Michael Anderson—Ralston, Rettig, and Hackler have pleaded guilty, been convicted, and sentenced to two years in prison, which has been suspended. Anderson accepted a deferred entry of judgment allowing him to have the charges dismissed if he completes a period of good behavior. All four have all been ordered to pay fines and other fees, and they have been placed on probation for periods ranging from one to two years.

Most importantly, three of the men have been barred from working with animals for the duration of their probation. Only Anderson will be allowed to do so. Despite an assurance in October from Audubon-Manning Veterinary Clinic President Daryl Olsen, D.V.M., that Anderson “has been suspended from working with livestock pending the outcome of the charges,” a whistleblower told us that Anderson is currently employed at a hog-confinement facility that Dr. Olsen reportedly owns. Dr. Olsen has not answered our inquiry regarding Mr. Anderson. If you would like to ask him to confirm that his company does not pay admitted animal abusers like Anderson to work with live animals, please contact him here.

Pork magazine called our investigation footage a "wake-up call" for the pork industry. We hope that these convictions serve not only as another wake-up call but also as a lesson to anyone working in this innately cruel industry: Neither the courts nor the public have a stomach for such malicious cruelty to farmed animals.

Posted by Shawna Flavell

Now that the World Health Organization has declared the swine flu outbreak "a pandemic," I'm going to predict that PETA's "flu prevention" mask will sneak past blinged-out cell phones as the must-have accessory this summer. I have a feeling that fashionistas and health officials all over the world will soon agree with me.

Despite denials issued by big pig farms and the change in the name of the illness, funnyman Jim Carrey hit the nail right on the head when he said, "There wouldn't be a swine flu if we treated the pigs better!"

PETA's swine flu mask will serve as a reminder of that.

Posted by Karin Bennett

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The AVMA plans to team up veterinarians and employees of Pike Place Fish Market for a dead fish sea kitten toss at its upcoming convention in Seattle. The event organizers promise that the event will be "outrageously fun."

Come again?

My gut tells me that the AVMA wouldn't dare try to organize a dead cat toss—so why not show the same consideration for sea kittens? The AVMA is turning a blind eye to the deaths of billions of sea kittens who suffocate on boat decks or are cut open while they are still conscious—all thanks to the cruel fishing industry. And those sea kittens feel pain, just like land kittens do.

Conventiongoers could get a uniquely Seattle experience by spending a few hours at the Experience Music Project and then visiting the Space Needle—a fun and cruelty-free afternoon.

Posted by Karin Bennett

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With that in mind, have you heard the news out of Maine? It's the sixth state to pass legislation significantly changing rights for state residents.

No, not that. I'm talking about this recent legislation, which bans the use of veal and gestation crates statewide.

That's right. As of January 1, 2011, calves will no longer be immobilized in tiny stalls for the production of veal, nor will mother pigs be trapped in gestation crates, on factory farms in Maine. Woo hoo!

And, of course, this follows news that U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine co-sponsored a resolution urging Canada to end the seal slaughter.

Maine's state motto is "Dirigo," which means, "I lead." When it comes to protecting animals, that certainly seems to be true!

Posted by Jeff Mackey

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1. Pigs snuggle close to one another and prefer to sleep nose to nose. They dream, much as humans do. In their natural surroundings, pigs spend hours playing, sunbathing, and exploring. People who run animal sanctuaries for farmed animals often report that pigs, like humans, enjoy listening to music, playing with soccer balls, and getting massages.

2. Pigs communicate constantly with one another; more than 20 vocalizations have been identified that pigs use in different situations, from wooing mates to saying, "I'm hungry!"

3. Newborn piglets learn to run to their mothers' voices and to recognize their own names. Mother pigs sing to their young while nursing.

4. According to Professor Donald Broom of the Cambridge University Veterinary School, "[Pigs] have the cognitive ability to be quite sophisticated. Even more so than dogs and certainly [more so than human] 3-year-olds."

5. Pigs appear to have a good sense of direction and have found their way home over great distances. Adult pigs can run at speeds of up to 11 miles an hour.

6. Professor Stanley Curtis of Penn State University has found that pigs can play joystick-controlled video games and are "capable of abstract representation." Dr. Curtis believes that "there is much more going on in terms of thinking and observing by these pigs than we would ever have guessed."

7. Pigs do not "eat like pigs" or "pig out." They prefer to eat slowly and savor their food.

8. Suzanne Held, who studies the cognitive abilities of farmed animals at the University of Bristol's Centre of Behavioural Biology, says that pigs are "really good at remembering where food is located, because in their natural environment food is patchily distributed and it pays to revisit profitable food patches."

9. Pigs are clean animals. If given sufficient space, they will be careful not to soil the area where they sleep or eat. Pigs don't "sweat like pigs"; they are actually unable to sweat. They like to bathe in water or mud to keep cool, and they actually prefer water to mud. One woman developed a shower for her pigs, and they learned to turn it on and off by themselves.

10. In his book The Whole Hog, biologist and Johannesburg Zoo director Lyall Watson writes, "I know of no other animals [who] are more consistently curious, more willing to explore new experiences, more ready to meet the world with open mouthed enthusiasm. Pigs, I have discovered, are incurable optimists and get a big kick out of just being."

These are just a few of the many reasons not to eat pigs. Click here to learn more about pigs.

Posted by Heather Moore

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• A total of 3,500 1-gallon buckets of pig manure and urine to represent the 3,500 tons of animal waste that pollute our air and water every year, courtesy of each and every average U.S. factory farm (along with giant fans to ensure that everyone gets a whiff)
• Undercover video footage taken at a pig factory farm
• Three "pigs" in narrow metal crates to represent the 3 million mother pigs who spend their short, miserable lives churning out babies, unable even to turn around or take a single step in any direction

We've submitted the permit requests and asked to set up shop next week. Now, like the neighbors of the smelly hog farm in LaGloria, Mexico, that's in the news or the folks living next to that smelly hog farm in Tewksbury, Delaware, we're just holding our breath—and hoping to get our permit so that we can bring a dose of reality to Washington's visitors, residents, and lawmakers!

Keep your fingers crossed, and hopefully we'll see you at the Capitol!

Posted by Karin Bennett

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You know who's to blame? Yup, filthy factory farms. A headline in Vera Cruz's La Marcha points the finger at gi-normous pig-breeding farms operated by a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods, the world's largest hog producer. Local residents reportedly believe that feces from the pig farms has contaminated the water and the air, spreading the virus to people. Another article in the Huffington Post quotes La Jornada newspaper, which points the finger at a factory farm in La Gloria, saying, "Clouds of flies emanate from the lagoons where Granjas Carroll discharges the fecal waste from its hog barns …." Yup, knew all that.

Because human consumption of meat is the sole reason that these factory farms exist, PETA has fired off a letter to Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard urging him to encourage residents to go vegetarian, noting that such an action could help prevent future outbreaks. We're also shipping emergency Spanish-language copies of our "Vegetarian Starter Kit" in case residents need helpful tips when making the shift.

If you live in the U.S., encourage members of Congress to stop the spread of these diseases by ending factory farming.

Posted by Karin Bennett

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This hard-hitting documentary follows a hog-farm investigation and gives viewers a rare glimpse at the process of trying to bring cruelty-to-animals charges against the meat industry.

As often happens, a tip was received from one of the farm's employees who claimed that workers were killing pigs by hanging them with chains. The bizarre part is that the investigator recorded the owner's son stating that the "euthanasia" guidelines followed by the farm are approved by and posted on PETA's Web site! Needless to say, it took about five minutes for our lawyers to put out a letter demanding an apology. If this investigation rings a bell, here's why: We featured it on the PETA Files in fall of 2007 when Iowa veterinarian Dr. Paul Armbrecht defended these hangings as acceptable and stated that kicking, dragging, and dropping sows off a 4-foot ledge—routine practice at this farm—are appropriate methods of transporting animals. And wife-beating is great discipline.

Tune in tonight and then come back tomorrow and leave us a comment letting us know what you thought.

Posted by Jennifer Cierlitsky

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof usually writes about Darfur and other far-off lands, but this week, he ventured into America's heartland to talk about a plague that is afflicting a small town in Indiana that happens to be home to factory hog farms. The plague is MRSA—methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, aka "flesh-eating bacteria." You can read Kristof's fascinating column here.

There's no proof—yet—of any link between Camden, Indiana's MRSA outbreak and the surrounding hog farms, but Kristof notes that a strain of MRSA has been linked to hog farms in the Netherlands, and that same strain has been found in 45 percent of pig farmers and 49 percent of pigs tested by a researcher at the University of Iowa.

Of course, MRSA is just one of many scary life- and health-threatening bugs found lurking in pig flesh. Other, common pork-borne bacteria include listeria, salmonella, and E. coli. Pig flesh is also host to trichina and tape worms (one of the latter was recently removed from a woman's brain—blecch). And let's not forget the SARS epidemic that swept Asia a few years ago and may return—not to mention the loads of saturated fat and cholesterol in every slice of ham, bacon, and sausage.

Kristof cautions that MRSA is just the tip of the disease iceberg that can likely be traced to the overuse of antibiotics on factory farms. And with all that filth on factory farms, antibiotic use is rampant. Stay tuned, because Kristof plans to talk more about that issue in his Sunday column.

Meanwhile, you can check out previous columns that Nicholas Kristof has written about factory farming here and here.

Posted by Alisa Mullins

We have just learned that Shawn Matthew Lyons, one of the men caught abusing pigs during our investigation of an Iowa pig farm, pleaded guilty to one count of livestock neglect. This charge was filed after authorities reviewed our investigators' video, which showed Lyons beating a pig on the back at least 10 times with a metal gate rod.

According to court records posted today, Lyons has been ordered to pay a fine of $625—the maximum permitted by law—and an additional $250 in court costs and surcharges. Lyons has been placed on probation for six months, during which time he is prohibited from working with any animals. All convicted animal abusers should be barred from contact with animals, and we commend prosecutor Nic Martino for securing this vital sentencing condition.

To our knowledge, Lyons is the first individual ever convicted of abusing or neglecting a factory-farmed pig in Iowa, the nation's top pork-producing state. His conviction sends yet another wake-up call to the pork industry: Cruelty to pigs will not be tolerated by the public or the criminal justice system. And you never know where our undercover investigators will turn up next …

Posted by Christine Doré

Happy Friday, y'all! Starting off with our first bite of soup, I'll offer you a taste of something that I'll never get tired of hearing about:

• In the 80s we convinced the USDA to fine a laboratory in which a number of chimpanzees "lived." The chimpanzees would spend the majority of their 30 years on earth inside cages, locked in a basement with barely any light. We've worked on the case since then, and things have slowly moved forward. Here's the heart-melting part: They're now breathing the fresh air at the Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest in Seattle. Here's a video of some of the chimpanzees from that laboratory reacting to their first snowfall.



• Now, for more fun stuff: It's a duck in a truck. This here is a clip of a truck driver who's found the answer to world peace in his best friend, Frankie the duck.



• We at PETA get a big kick out of the genius of the lolcats. Their Web site, icanhascheezburger.com, could use a name change, but we'll let that slide for now as they've cooked up a lovely anti-fur ad.



• May I present a shining example of evil genius put to effective use? This cute and very twisted video game called Beefbash perfectly conveys the gruesomeness of meat by putting the electric prod and carving knife right into your hands. You even get to choose the adorable animal you butcher.



• Good news for pigs in Germany! Many male pigs will no longer be castrated before they are turned into food for a huge Dutch supermarket. Check out the story here.



• If your doctor tells you to go home and eat more fish, show him or her this article.



• And last but not least, if you're still angry enough to spit at the abuse that those chimpanzees who now live in Seattle used to endure, take a gander at this karma. The wee monkey actually kept going until the stick broke!

Well, that was quite a large serving this month, and it was quite satisfying, if I do say so myself! Now that you've had your fill, off you go.

Until next time!

Posted by Missy Lane

We've all seen those transport trucks whiz by us with little regard for the safety of the animals jostled about inside, often struggling to stay on their feet on the slippery floors. It's horrible enough that these animals are headed for the slaughterhouse, but many people don't realize that millions of animals each year die when they are trampled or succumb to untreated illnesses before they even reach that awful destination.

The numbers are heartbreaking, but they're no surprise when you factor in the abuse these animals face: Workers routinely poke pigs with electric prods and beat them—sometimes on the snout with baseball bats, breaking their noses. Birds are often thrown into the holding space, resulting in broken bones and wings. Animals are piled on top of each other with no room to turn around, and no food or water is given to them during transport. The sheer number of animals crammed into the cargo containers can cause some to suffocate, especially in the heat. During the summer months, temperatures inside the metal fixtures are sweltering, and during the winter months, the animals have almost no protection from the wind, ice, and snow. Many pigs actually freeze to the sides of the trucks in winter.

Truck drivers can be reckless and absentminded, putting both the animals and humans in danger. Transport truck accidents like this one are common. If an animal is lucky, he or she might escape injury and be able to flee and avoid the slaughterhouse forever, but most are not so fortunate. These accidents are horrifying for animals who are injured—often they are simply reloaded onto another truck to continue the journey to the slaughterhouse.

Posted by Jennifer Cierlitsky

Katherine Heigl wearing our "Have a PETA Day" T-shirt

Well, last night was probably my favorite television night of all time, because the best show ever also brought in an important message about animal rights. (TV + AR = my life, so you can see why I was thrilled.)

If you missed it, let me catch you up. Dr. Hunt, the new head of trauma surgery, wanted to train the residents and interns on how to deal with trauma patients, and he said that dealing with live tissue was the best way to learn. So he tied down six sedated pigs and stabbed them with knives, and then he asked the doctors to perform surgery to keep the pigs alive. (Though I'm quite sure that in real life the pigs were fake, as the show had several notices that no animals were harmed in filming.)

Enter Dr. Izzy Stevens, played by Katherine Heigl. Izzy refused to do the assignment and explained how completely unnecessary it is to test on live animals when we have such advanced alternatives that don't require us to do that. She said that animals are sensitive, emotional creatures that feel pain and don't deserve to be tortured. We are so right there with you, Izzy!

When Dr. Hunt continued to berate Izzy about this issue, she stood up for herself and for animals everywhere and never backed down. She even explained that testing on animals is pointless and can sometimes even work against medical progress. Even though a test might be successful when the subjects are animals, people and animals are different species and therefore will show completely different results.

Even no-nonsense, steely Dr. Yang took a liking to the pigs and called them by name. When the surgeries finished, Hunt ordered Yang to euthanize the pigs and she refused.

What an excellent episode! I was so thrilled to step away from Meredith's whiny, self-obsessed life for a while to focus on the other characters—and such a positive message for animals.

Now, if only Ross University had seen this episode ….

Posted by Christine Doré

There's a great editorial titled "PETA's Undercover Agents Deserve a Pat on the Back" in the Post-Bulletin that's well worth reading. We don't generally just push people over to another site, but when something is good it's good—so we'll let someone else do the writing this time.

Check out the editorial here.

Posted by Joel Bartlett

It's with a proud and ecstatic heart that I report this news today! Our investigation into an Iowa pig farm that breeds piglets destined for Hormel has resulted in 22—that's right, count them—22 criminal charges.

The Greene County Sheriff just announced in a news release that six individuals employed by the farm at the time of PETA's investigation now face a total of 22 counts of livestock neglect and abuse. Those charged include a former farm manager—who we understand still works on another pig factory farm—and a supervisor, as well as two individuals who still punch the clock at the Iowa factory farm as we speak.

A whopping 14 of the counts are aggravated misdemeanors—the stiffest possible charges under Iowa state law for crimes committed against farmed animals—carrying up to two years behind bars. To PETA's knowledge, this is unprecedented.

Charges based on PETA's undercover investigations are now pending against pig factory farmers in both Iowa—the nation's top pig-raising state—and North Carolina, which occupies the second rung on that dubious list!

This is a small victory for farmed animals, but we mustn't forget that Hormel, which financially supports this farm, has by all appearances yet to make any changes as a result of this investigation. It has refused to meet with us or even watch all of the footage, which we have repeatedly offered to show the company. Maybe now that the law has spoken up, Hormel will finally listen.

Please, urge Hormel to take action now.

Posted by Christine Doré

One month ago, we released shocking footage from an undercover investigation of a factory farm in Iowa that raises pigs who are destined for Hormel. The public was rightly outraged by the horrific findings of PETA's investigators, who found that workers repeatedly hit pigs with metal gate rods and canes, a worker slammed the heads of piglet "runts" into the floor, and a supervisor shoved a cane into a sow's vagina and talked about sexually abusing pigs.

Even after the farm changed ownership and management during the investigation, this disgusting treatment and abuse of animals continued.

That being said, we have just released previously unseen footage from the investigation, apparently showing the farm manager kicking and shocking a pig. Unbelievably, he is still the manager of the farm!

In the video, the farm manager is seen shocking a pig with an electric prod and kicking her—both in apparent violation of the farm owner's own written policy—in a prolonged attempt to make her stand, which is a requirement for pigs who are sold for slaughter. The suffering sow, who was unable to stand due to crippled hind limbs, was left in the pen for two days, bleeding from a severed hoof, until she was ultimately shot and killed.

This shocking footage of the farm manager was recorded the very next working day after PETA's undercover investigator reported to the farm manager the abuse that he had documented at the farm.

We are seething mad that the farm manager retains his position as farm manager and has been allowed to continue to supervise other employees and their treatment of pigs. It is painfully obvious to us that all factory farms—as long as they exist—must be managed by individuals who are competent in humane handling of animals and who can lead by example. We'll let you determine whether he fits the bill.

We stand firm in our demand that Hormel take action against these abuses, despite the company's continued failure to respond to our attempts to work with it. Join us in renewing our pressure on Hormel. Demand that the company enact meaningful reforms to prevent this sort of abuse from occurring on its suppliers' farms.

Update: We wanted to make sure that it's clear to our readers that we offered several times to show Hormel and the farm's management ALL the footage that was taken during PETA's undercover investigation at the supplier's farm—including the above footage of the manager. Neither Hormel nor the farm's management took us up on our offer.

Posted by Jennifer Cierlitsky

Best one so far!

Click for a larger version

To check out the archives of past strips, click here.

A worker slammed these piglets' heads against the floor and left them to die in a bin.

Just days after PETA released video footage of an undercover investigation at an Iowa pig farm whose piglets are destined for Hormel, the wheels of change are in motion. Here's what's new.

1. Acknowledgment
PETA met with Greene County, Iowa, Sheriff, Tom Heater's staff, and he is taking the documented cruelty seriously. After this meeting, Sheriff Heater told the Associated Press, "Our next step is to secure interviews with potential suspects, and definitely make sure that there's no further abuse occurring down there—that's our main concern at this point. Asked if crimes had been committed, Heater responded, 'It appears that there were, yes.'"

2. Action
Dr. Jennifer Greiner says Minnesota-based MowMar, LLP, which owns the farm where the investigation took place, has already fired two employees involved in the abuse and will continue to terminate those involved based on the findings of the investigation.

3. Deception
Following the release of the investigation video, Hormel issued false statements to consumers and PETA's members saying that the abuse shown on the video occurred weeks before their supplier purchased the farm. This statement is blatantly untrue, as the video depicts acts committed both before and after MowMar's purchase of the site. Furthermore, Hormel suppliers either owned or managed the Iowa farm during the entire investigation.

Although PETA's investigation garnered some serious media attention and is prompting needed change in regard to animal abuse, it still may take some time before meaningful changes are made to standards in the pig industry. Mother pigs are still confined to tiny gestation crates and their babies are castrated and mutilated without any anesthesia or painkillers. Even worse, unwanted "runts" are sometimes killed by "thumping" (slamming the animals' heads against the floor). Although cruel, these standards still appear to be legal in many U.S. states.

The good news is that you can make a huge difference. You can join PETA and take a stand against the cruel factory-farming industry by going veg today.

Posted by Carrie Ann Harris

By now, you've probably heard about our latest undercover investigation—and you were probably as horrified as we were. Sadly, though, we weren't shocked—because this kind of abuse has happened before, many times.

Abuses like the ones seen at the Iowa pig factory farm should be the exception—but they're not; they are the rule. Look at our investigation of a North Carolina factory farm; just like at the Iowa farm, the pigs were beaten, were spray-painted, and had their eyes poked with sharp objects. In Oklahoma, the pigs were also beaten and "thumped"—and treaded on, starved, and left to die of illness. At a factory farm in North Carolina, the pigs were, again, beaten daily, kicked, and vaginally and anally penetrated—in addition to being skinned alive. Another group found pigs in Nebraska to be suffering from extreme neglect and mistreatment, drowning in their own excrement and covered in open sores. They found similarly neglected pigs in South Dakota, where the conditions were so inhumane that death rates in barns reached as high as 60 percent—and where some pigs were killed by having a water hose placed in their mouths until the animals burst.

Beatings, castration without any painkillers, drowning in excrement, wasting away with illness, and vaginal and anal penetration—these shouldn't be everyday occurrences, but they are. All over the country, pigs on factory farms are suffering just like pigs in Iowa, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and South Dakota are—and each time someone buys bacon, ham, sausage, or a hot dog, that person is saying that he or she agrees with how these pigs are treated.

Please, if you are appalled by the pain and suffering inflicted on these pigs, there is one very simple way to help them—don't eat them.

Posted by Amanda Schinke

Anyone you know still eat SPAM and Dinty Moore? Well, show them a new PETA investigation of a pig factory farm in Iowa—where investigators took truly disturbing undercover footage of workers who were abusing sows and their piglets. This farm breeds and supplies piglets to be grown and eventually slaughtered for Hormel. In addition to keeping pregnant pigs in hideous gestation crates that are so small that the mothers-to-be cannot even turn around, workers and supervisors are seen on our tape kicking pigs maliciously, beating them with metal rods, jabbing clothespins and fingers into their eyes, and slamming piglets against the floor to kill them (a standard practice in the pig-meat industry). A worker was seen spraying paint directly up a sow's nostrils and all over her face as well. Some of the piglets convulsed for more than 12 minutes before dying.

PETA's undercover investigators also documented the following:

Tails and testicles from baby pigs

If you eat hot dogs, ham, sausage, or bacon, you are supporting gross abuse and cruelty in this "house of horrors." Please don't. Tell Hormel to stop cruelty to animals at its suppliers' facilities now!

Posted by Amy Elizabeth

Two little "pigs" showed up at yesterday's Republican National Convention (RNC) to do a little campaigning themselves. PETA demonstrators—wielding signs that read, "Cut the Pork: Tax Meat!"—posed for photographs with happy onlookers, including these police officers:

PETA's "Tax Meat" campaign calls on Congress to impose an excise tax—which currently applies to items like gasoline, tobacco, and alcohol—on meat in the hope that doing so would help curb America's meat consumption. The tax would cover the health and environmental costs that result from using animals for food.

PETA's pigs also visited the Democratic National Convention last week in Denver. At both conventions, PETA was a big hit, posing for photos and giving interviews to NBC's Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, National Public Radio, Democracy in Action, documentary filmmakers, and other radio, print, and TV media outlets.

Support PETA's pigs by urging Congress to support a tax on meat!

Posted by Carrie Ann Harris

wannaveg / CC

I guess we can sleep well knowing that if a soldier loses his tail during a raid, some well-trained fellow soldiers, thanks to this training, may be able to reattach the necessary posterior appendage.

Given the U.S. Army's apparent outright disregard for their own regulations and the treatment of these animals, PETA is now asking commanding officers at bases in Hawaii and Texas—where a more recent training exercise included breaking and amputating the legs of nearly 1,000 goats with tree trimmers—for a court martial over the shooting, mutilating, and killing of animals during these old-fashioned training exercises.

According to the Army's own regulations, the Army is required to use alternatives to animals in training exercises when scientifically valid and comparable alternatives exist. And they do! The animal exercise should have been replaced with validated, state-of-the-art simulators, such as the Department of Defense's own Combat Trauma Patient Simulator, which more realistically simulates battlefield conditions and, consequently, is considered superior to outdated animal methods. Other viable alternatives include Dr. Emad Aboud's "living" cadaver perfusion model, Simulab Corporation's TraumaMan system, and establishing military level one trauma centers in nearby communities in order to have trainees work with the community to take care of their city's population.

Kathy Guillermo, director of PETA's Laboratory Investigations Department, says, "The Army has regulations in place specifically to prevent this kind of cruelty to animals, but the oversight committee apparently chose to ignore them. Our soldiers deserve to be trained using the most advanced technology available—that means using human simulators."

The U.S. Army does not train soldiers to race into battle zones to retrieve injured pigs, goats, or dogs. That would be great, but let's face it: It's not the government's main agenda. Time, money, and resources could be far better spent.

You can take action on this issue here.

Posted by Jennifer Cierlitsky

oldstersview / CC

Well, that's what I thought when I first saw this news story: "Hogs Gone Wild, 50 team [sic] compete in Eldorado Picnic hog wrestling contest." Surely, I thought, the wrestlers wore pig costumes or something. They didn't actually wrestle with pigs …

But no—there were, in fact, 50 teams of people, all clamoring to wrestle a pig. The goal? To grab a frightened pig and force him onto a padded barrel in less than a minute.

Eldorado's fire chief, who is either PR-savvy or oblivious, says—in the words of the article—that the hogs "are kept cool and treated with utmost respect." But the astute writer of the article observed, "Not buying that for a minute, the hogs huddled together drawing deep furrows in the muck with their snouts. They glared, squinted-eyed, each time a squealing comrade was herded away." I certainly fail to see how terrorizing pigs qualifies as "respect"—just look at the first picture in the photo gallery. Look at the expression on the pig's face—does he look respected or terrified?

This isn't the first time that misguided people have used animal wrestling as a fundraiser. In fact, the Brooks Hill Community Fair in West Virginia—which was just this past weekend—had planned to hold a greased pig race until PETA told them how cruel it would be. The race was subsequently canceled—a victory for PETA and pigs and a show of decency from Brooks Hill! The Delta Fair and Music Fest in Tennessee is another event that decided not to hold their pig-wrestling competition. Good for them.

Of course, if anyone's wondering what the Eldorado Lions and Fireman's Community Picnic might do next year to raise money in a cruelty-free way … might I suggest tofu wrestling instead? We'll even provide the tofu.

Posted by Amanda Schinke

Do you know the saying "Don't steal—the government hates competition"? I was reminded of it recently when news broke that the U.S. Army is shooting live pigs in an open range with high-power rifles at a training camp in Hawaii. The Army says it's teaching combat medics how to treat battlefield injuries, but here's the thing: The Army is required—by its own regulations—to use alternatives to animals in any kind of experimentation or training when scientifically valid and comparable alternatives exist. And guess what? Those alternatives exist.

My colleague Shalin Gala rattles off these humane alternatives like nobody's business: the Combat Trauma Patient Simulation System, Simulab Corporation's TraumaMan system (insert superhero figure with a T on his chest), partnering with trauma centers for real-life experience, and Dr. Emad Aboud's "living" cadaver perfusion model. Shalin also tells me that he regularly receives calls from whistleblowers in the Army and the Navy telling him about the use of pigs, goats, and monkeys for trauma training and chemical casualty training—all in apparent violation of regulations.

Kathy Guillermo, the director of PETA's Laboratory Investigations Department, had this to say: "In order to effectively save our soldiers' lives, Army medics should be trained with human trauma patients and advanced simulators that mimic human responses. Shooting and maiming pigs is as outdated as Civil War rifles."

I agree, but I'm kind of stuck on the fact that the horror of the Army's pig shooting in Hawaii goes way beyond just that. Readers of The PETA Files are well aware that you don't have to be Einstein to get your head around the few paltry regulations intended to protect animals in laboratories, but even so, violations of these regulations are rampant. A recent audit noted that nearly a third of U.S. laboratories are failing to search for alternatives. Is it any wonder when the government—charged with ensuring that laboratories comply with the law—doesn't seem to have its own house in order?

Posted by Grace Friedan

An open letter to the citizens of Iowa:

It's too late to save the poor pigs who were killed after they escaped a flooded southeastern Iowa farm after being left to drown, swam several miles through raging floodwaters, and scrambled atop a sandbag levee, where sheriff's officials shot them for fear that they would weaken it, but as citizens of Iowa, you can all do something in solidarity to save other clever, charismatic pigs: Go vegetarian.

Millions of pigs are hung upside-down, scalded, and bled to death, often while they're still conscious, in slaughterhouses every year. Pigs feel pain every bit as much as we do, are horrified at the sight and smells of the slaughterhouse, and are afraid to die. Like us, they fight for their lives and struggle to avoid suffering.

There is no reason for any pigs to die such tragic, violent deaths—ever. Tasty, healthy, and humane mock meats—including Tofurky sweet Italian sausages, Morningstar Farms veggie dogs, Yves Veggie Cuisine's Canadian veggie bacon and deli slices, and other faux-pork products—are available in many supermarkets and health-food stores.

By choosing vegetarian foods instead of animal flesh, each one of us can save more than 100 animals every year. See GoVeg.com for more information, and click here to get a free "Vegetarian Starter Kit."

Sincerely,

PETA

Posted by Christine Dore

OK, so puppies and kittens are awfully cute. But piglets can give them a run for their money—as in the case of the seriously adorable Bella, a rescued piglet who is now the face (and curly tail) of Animals Australia's pig advocacy campaign, SaveBabe.com.

This video provides a useful reminder that pigs are smart, social, and even heroic, much like the dogs and cats many of us share our homes with—and we would never even dream of eating them, right? Pigs on factory farms will never enjoy romps and belly rubs as Bella does. Instead, they'll be subjected to constant stress and denied everything that is natural and important to them—or even worse.

So since we're heading into prime cookout season, be sure to cool it with the hot dogs and spare the spare ribs. Check out these great grilling recipes for a sizzling summer barbecue that won't cause any pigs to suffer, even from hurt feelings (unless, of course, you fail to share with them).

P.S. If you watched the video closely, you may have noticed an appearance by James Cromwell, the star of Babe and a longtime friend of PETA and animals. If someone you know doesn't quite "get it" about pigs, you may want to pass along this wonderful pro-pig ad he did for us a while back.

—Jeff

Posted by Jeff Mackey

In England, they do Mother’s Day differently (i.e., they actually celebrate it on the right date). And with Mothering Sunday coming up across the pond, PETA Europe have put together an incredibly striking demonstration to draw attention to the horrible suffering of mother pigs in gestation crates. My friend Alexia has the full story over on her blog Fish & Chimps, but here’s a quick look at the amazing demonstration that’s been getting tons of coverage for pigs abused on factory farms.

Sometimes it’s kind of hard for people to make the connection between their pets and the animals they eat, so here are some masks our Production department made to help with that. What do you think?

You may remember Smithfield Foods' big January announcement that it is phasing out the use of gestation crates, followed shortly by Maple Leaf Foods' decision to follow suit, and Burger King's recent adoption of a new animal welfare plan that includes, among other things, reducing the amount of pig meat it purchases from suppliers that use crates. Well, we just got word from execs at another major pig meat producer (one of the world’s largest, in fact), Cargill Foods—which we had been encouraging to follow Smithfield’s lead—that it's going to come through in a big way: Cargill has stopped using gestation crates in 50 percent of its pig factory farms!

We’re not breaking out the champagne just yet, as the company hasn't agreed to a total phase-out of gestation crates, but this is a firm step in the right direction, and just another positive sign of big changes to come throughout the industry. Of course, PETA doesn't make a secret of the fact that we don’t want any pigs bred or slaughtered for food, but the pigs who are there right now don't have the luxury of hunkering down for a long campaign to win people's hearts and minds about the injustices of industrialized farming. While we keep pushing companies behind the scenes to stop torturing animals, like, at all, millions of animals right now will experience a significant improvement in the quality of their lives. Which is pretty good for a given work day. I'll let you know once they've gotten rid of gestation crates entirely. We're working on it.

Seriously, she never ceases to amaze. Last week, she chatted with British talk show host Paul O'Grady about her desire to rescue pigs. Here's hoping she succeeds. In Touch Weekly picked up the story: