Undercover Investigation Reveals Shocking Animal Cruelty At Walmart Pork Supplier

Hidden-Camera Footage Revealing Pigs Being Beaten, Abused and Intensively Confined Leads to Law Enforcement Investigation - Group Urges Retail Giant to Adopt Strict Animal Welfare Policies

News provided by

Mercy For Animals

Oct 29, 2013, 08:00 ET

PIPESTONE, Minn., Oct. 29, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Shocking hidden-camera video of animal abuse secretly recorded at a Walmart pork supplier was released today at WalmartCruelty.com by the national animal protection organization Mercy For Animals. The disturbing hidden-camera footage, shot at Pipestone System's Rosewood Farms in Pipestone, Minnesota, is narrated by Emmy-winning actor James Cromwell and reveals pregnant pigs confined for nearly their entire lives in crates barely larger than their own bodies, and piglets being slammed headfirst into the ground and having their testicles ripped out and tails cut off without painkillers. Based on the undercover video, local law enforcement raided the factory farm and has initiated a criminal investigation. Mercy For Animals is calling on retail giant Walmart to immediately adopt new animal welfare guidelines prohibiting its pork suppliers from confining pigs in crates so small they cannot even turn around—something nearly every other major food provider has already done.

The undercover footage reveals the following horrific abuses:

Thousands of mother pigs confined to filthy, metal gestation crates so small they are unable to even turn around or lie down comfortably for nearly their entire lives
Workers beating, throwing, slapping, hitting and screaming obscenities at pigs and piglets
Workers slamming piglets into the ground and leaving them to slowly suffer and die
Workers ripping out the testicles and slicing off the tails of fully conscious piglets without the use of any painkillers
Sick and injured pigs with severe, bleeding wounds or infections left to suffer without veterinary care

Gestation crates have been widely condemned as one of the cruelest factory farming practices in the world. In fact, gestation crates are so inhumane they have been banned in nine U.S. states, as well as in the entire European Union. Recognizing their inherent cruelty, over 60 major food providers, including McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, Chipotle, Safeway, Kroger, Costco and Kmart, have all demanded their suppliers do away with these cruel crates. Yet Walmart continues to support blatant animal abuse by buying pork from suppliers that condemn intelligent and social animals to a lifetime of misery and deprivation.

"The suffering experienced by the animals is gratuitous, unnecessary, abusive, and counterproductive," world-renowned animal welfare expert Dr. Bernard Rollin said after viewing the footage. "[The use of gestation crates is] arguably the worst practice in confinement agriculture. I fully expect that, in a few years, we will see the end of the use of such crates everywhere in the civilized world."

"The hidden cost of Walmart's cheap pork is blatant animal abuse," said MFA's executive director, Nathan Runkle. "No animal should suffer a lifetime locked in a cage so small she can't even turn around or lie down comfortably. It's high time that Walmart took meaningful action to ensure that the animals raised and killed for its stores do not endure lives filled with pain and misery."

To view the undercover video, visit www.WalmartCruelty.com.

SOURCE Mercy For Animals