Farm Sanctuary poursuit un éleveur de cochons....

[Animal 0]

27 novembre 2005-
Le groupe Farm Sanctuary a déposé une plainte contre Corcpork, l'un des plus gros éleveurs de cochons en Californie (qui détient 90 000 cochons) pour cruauté envers les animaux. Selon Farm Sanctuary, détenir des truies en gestation dans des stalles où elles ne peuvent à peine bouger, est illégal.



Group Files Lawsuit For Alleged Animal Abuse
November 27, 2005 -

Pig farming is a multi-million dollar industry in California. But a new lawsuit by an animal rights group is accusing one of the largest pig farms in the state of animal abuse.

When you think of bacon or ham, you don't think of pregnant pigs kept in crates no bigger than their bodies for most of their lives.
Pig farmers across the country say the breeding practice is the most effective way to create a safe and healthy product. But Farm Sanctuary, an animal welfare group, says it's illegal.

"The crates are used because the pigs can be fed at the front and hosed down at the back. The animals are used like tools of production, like piglet producing machines," said Farm Sanctuary President Gene Bauston.

Just last month, Farm Sanctuary filed suit against Corcpork. Based in Corcoran, it's one of the largest pig farms in California and houses 90,000 pigs.

Photos taken by Farm Sanctuary show Corcpork's pigs being housed in two-foot-wide gestation cages. Farm Sanctuary says a California penal code "requires animals kept in any confined area to be given adequate exercise space." They say Corcpork's pigs don't even have room to turn around.

"We believe what happens at Corcpork could set a trend across the state, and potentially even across the country," said Bauston.

In a statement to Action News, Corcpork officials say the crates have been approved by the American Veterinarian Medical Association, and that the "stalls ensure that farm animals are free from the competition for food and physical confrontations that often occur among animals housed in groups."

In fact, many local pig farmers say large communal pens are more dangerous for their pigs than a gestation crate.

"We get domination of certain sows that dominate others," said Visalia pig farmer Roy Sharp. "When that happens in our feeding system, they get all the food, the others get less."

Sharp says his pigs often violently attack each other when kept in a large pen.

But in public service announcements, Farm Sanctuary shows the cages causing sores and joint disorders. They say many pigs bite their cage bars and chew the air in distress. Some they say become so crippled they eventually die.

The organization has used celebrities like Ben Affleck's brother Casey and Mary Tyler Moore to make their point.

"Gestation crates are inherently cruel and they should be banned in the United States as they are in other countries," said Moore.

A few years ago, Farm Sanctuary helped pass a ballot initiative banning the use of gestation crates in the state of Florida. They have been unsuccessful in their attempts to push a similar bill through the California legislature.

"You have agri-business interests, who are very powerful, they are very influential with the agricultural committee in Sacramento and that has resulted in laws not being enacted to prevent such industrialized farming abuses," said Bauston.

But Agricultural Committee Vice-Chair and Visalia State Assemblyman Bill Maze disagrees. He says a ban on gestation crates would only drive up pork prices. "They will grasp at any kind of straw that they can to try or uphold and try and get a ruling in their favor. They're not concerned about the outcome or consequences that may come about," he said.

But Farm Sanctuary says they have a case, and they're hoping their lawsuit against the South Valley farm will change the industry.


http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=local&id=3676010