Save an Intelligent Animal From Suffering and Help the Environment in the Bargain, Don't Eat Pig Meat

Having ham with your Christmas dinner? Don’t.

Would you bake the family dog and eat it? Would you roast your toddler?  Of course not. Yet pigs are smarter than dogs, cats and your average three-year-old. They’re smarter than horses. Don’t believe me? Ask The Humane Society. Also, according to the website animal equity: Researchers have found that pigs are intelligent beings capable of remembering their surroundings, learning from their friends, and solving complex problems. Pigs can be trained just as dogs are. They are gentle and make good pets.

Their reputation as filthy animals is undeserved. It stems from the environments that farmers put them in. They clean themselves and — contrary to common misconceptions — don’t wallow in their own filth. They do wallow in mud, especially during hot weather, to keep cool and avoid sunburns. According to sentinentmedia org. pigs are sentient beings who can feel stress, fear and joy. Pigs are the fifth most intelligent animals in the world. Pigs understand when they see themselves in a mirror. The ability to recognize an image of themselves, known as self-recognition, is only found in the world’s most intelligent species. Pigs are known to have both good long and short-term memories. They are social animals who work well together in groups.

I don’t understand how people with good conscience can tacitly support the slaughter of these relatively intelligent creatures which they do every time they have a slice of bacon.

And about that slaughter….On factory farms pigs designated for your dinner table are treated horribly. Often confined in crates that are so small they can’t even turn around. Piglets are separated from their mothers soon after birth.

Pigs have a lifespan of ten to fifteen years, unless they are designated for your pulled pork sandwich or plate of bacon. Factory farms pigs are sent to the slaughterhouse after six months of life. Up to a million pigs a year die in transport, freezing to death in the winter and dying of heat exhaustion in the summer. By the time of their deaths their lungs and legs are so weak from confinement that they can’t run and can barely walk. Their short lives are miserable and end horribly.

According to PETA: “A typical slaughterhouse kills up to 1,100 pigs every hour. The sheer number of animals killed makes it impossible for them to be given humane, painless deaths. Because of improper stunning, many pigs are alive when they reach the scalding tank, which is intended to soften their skin and remove their hair. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) documented 14 humane-slaughter violations at one processing plant, where inspectors found hogs who ‘were walking and squealing after being stunned [with a stun gun] as many as four times.’ According to one slaughterhouse worker, ‘There’s no way these animals can bleed out in the few minutes it takes to get up the ramp. By the time they hit the scalding tank, they’re still fully conscious and squealing. Happens all the time.’”

But there are other methods of killing pigs. Like the gas chamber. In an article published earlier this year the San Francisco Chronicle reported on film footage snuck out of a slaughterhouse. It revealed: “pigs screaming, gasping for air, thrashing violently and desperately trying to escape as they slowly suffocated in a pool of invisible carbon dioxide gas.”

Like other kinds of animal farming, pig farming is bad for the environment and a contributor to global warming. Pork has the third highest environmental impact among meats. According to a University of Colorado study: Raising livestock for human consumption generates nearly 15% of total global greenhouse gas emissions, which is greater than all the transportation emissions combined. It also uses nearly 70% of agricultural land which leads to being the major contributor to deforestation, biodiversity loss, and water pollution. 

Save a pig today. Don’t have ham, pork chops or pork sausage. Encourage others not to. Support humane treatment of all animals and end the slaughter of pigs. If you can, adopt one as a pet. Here’s some ways to help are oinking friends.