Pigs - who's in your bacon?
Pigs are sensitive and playful animals, much like dogs. Most pigs today are raised inside filthy, cramped factory farms, where breeding sows (female pigs) are forced to produce as many piglets as possible in a never-ending cycle of pregnancies.
A week before they are due to give birth, sows are moved to a farrowing crate – a cage-like structure built from metal and concrete that is only a little bit bigger than the sow herself. Inside this device, she is unable to stretch, turn around or move freely.
At three or four weeks old, the piglets are taken away from their mothers. A high protein diet causes them to grow very big, very fast. As with other animals produced for food, the freakishly large pigs suffer painful leg and joint problems. The dirty, unhealthy conditions also lead to heart and breathing problems, as well as infections that affect the gut, skin, brain and nervous system. In an attempt to fight off disease, pigs are routinely fed a cocktail of drugs.
Although they have a natural lifespan of 15 years, pigs are typically slaughtered when only 3-6 months old, to be made into sausages and other pork meat products.
Make a difference
Want to know more?
- Read about our investigation into intensive pig farming (2008)
- Watch the undercover footage
- Read The Suffering of Farmed Pigs section in adult site
