So what is thumping?
A pigs natural life expectancy is about 15 years. Did you know most pigs are killed at the age of 6 months? They are farm animals remember! Their death are not pleasant.
From Gary’s website.
The following is a description by factory farm workers of the standard hog factory practice of “thumping,” in which workers pick up pigs by their hind legs, whirl them over their shoulders, and bash them headfirst into the concrete floor.
I have seen a video about this a few years ago. It’s amazing how some people can abuse another being without (seemingly) a thought to the suffering involved. In this video they are called ‘fall behinds’ the ones that are thrown to the floor. Pig video
Having been around pigs throughout my life I would have to agree with the observations. Even if it wasn’t true I know that does not jusitfy abusing another being.
The following was taken from Choose Vegetarian website.
Pigs “have the cognitive ability to be quite sophisticated. Even more so than dogs and certainly [more so than] three-year-olds,†says Dr. Donald Broom, Cambridge University professor and former scientific advisor to the Council of Europe. One study found that they can even learn to play simple video games. Pigs naturally live in groups and express friendships with each other through vocalizing, body language, and with whom they spend their time. Like human children, piglets are particularly fond of play and chase one another, play-fight, tumble down hills, and generally engage in a wide variety of enjoyable activities. Pigs are very active, traveling up to 30 miles a day at a quick pace. Noted ethologist, Dr. Alex Stolba, observed that pigs living in a natural environment also spend much of their day grazing and rooting. Pigs raised on factory farms are denied all of these behaviors.
on December 19th, 2005 at 9:10 am
I don’t understand how this stuff is legal. Again, a reason I got into that non-profit…all animal abuse is horrid but farm animals get no respect or rights at all AT ALL.
This is terrible.
on December 19th, 2005 at 3:36 pm
No. I don’t get how people can eat animals at all knowing this.
on December 20th, 2005 at 10:38 pm
That’s beyond terrible. It’s just sick. If I ate pigs I wouldn’t sleep tonight.
on February 26th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
Well, Im not going to stop eating pork over this as a permanent thing but I dont hold with the deliberate infliction of needless pain and suffering. Im quite willing to pay the extra costs associated with free range farming. Generally Agribusiness is good for us… it allows us to feed our population and export to feed other country’s whose population breeds like, well…..pigs. That being said, the mechanisms used in industrial piggeries needs to change. A .357M to the back of the neck should put the animal down quite nicely, in-expensively and thoroughly. 10cc of air intravenously will do for dispatching “downers” Save your flamers, Bleeding Hearts, in essence we want almost the same thing… I dont want the animals to suffer any more than you do, but even the most casual observer cannot fail to aprehend what human canine teeth evolved for…. So, I guess I will start looking for a butcher who can provide the meat without cattle prods up the ass
on April 25th, 2008 at 11:44 am
Jack - this isn’t a flame, but do you really think our “canines” are evidence that humans require meat in their diets?
Just look at the overwhelming numbers of humans with health issues that are aggravated or outright caused by eating meat. Heart disease to name one. It seems to me that humans aren’t very well adapted to eating meat - certainly not in the quantities that our society accepts as normal.
Our teeth would have a hard time getting through the styrofoam container that our meat comes in, let alone the hide of an animal. In fact our bodies have many more similarities with herbivores than with carnivores. The length of our intestines and pancreas, the enzymes in our saliva, our molars, the ability of our hands to grab things - all of these are evolutionary traits that we have in common with plant eating creatures.
I do agree that factory farming needs to change. I think it’s incredibly sad that the “need” for factory farming exists in the first place. I honestly think we’d be better off as a nation if we went back to traditional farming practices.