There's a lot of sensory overload in Miami, so it takes something bold to get people to turn their heads. Mercy for Animals devised something that might make people stop and check out its display.
A ten-foot-tall bloody pig in a cage outside Walmart.
No, they're not shooting Babe 3, in which Babe gets into some
radioactive slop, grows into a colossal hog, and battles space aliens
about to destroy South Beach. The animal rights group is taking the giant
porker to the North Miami Beach Walmart (1425 NE 163rd St.) to protest Walmart's purchasing of pork products from factory farms that treat their animals cruelly.
This Wednesday, August 29, from 11 a.m. to noon, meet the giant inflatable oinker and help persuade Walmart to
require its suppliers to phase out the practice of confining pregnant
pigs in cages so small they cannot move. Confining
animals in these "gestation crates" creates stress and bloody open wounds and infections. Major grocery chains such as Kroger, Safeway, and Costco, along with restaurants such as McDonald's, are already
requiring that their suppliers engage in more humane farming methods.
Phil
Letten, national campaign coordinator at Mercy for Animals, told Short
Order that "basically every major food provider in the country has
committed to phasing out gestation crates except for Walmart. That is completely
unacceptable."
Mercy for Animals has documented cruel
animal-handling practices at two Walmart pork suppliers.
Letten says they found proof (including hidden camera footage) of
"pregnant pigs confined to filthy, metal gestation crates so small they
were unable to even turn around." Letten also says the footage shows
"workers slamming conscious piglets headfirst into the ground and
workers stripping out the testicles and slicing off the tails of piglets
without the use of any painkillers."
Letten isn't telling you to
give up your Sunday-morning bacon He simply wants you to help convince
Walmart that there's nothing appetizing about suffering. "It's high
time that Walmart follows the lead of Costco and its other competitors
in committing to phase out cruel gestation crates."
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