Top 10 Reasons Not to Eat Pigs

Attention, shoppers: Stop picking up dead “Babes” and “Wilburs” at the grocery store! Here are our top 10 reasons to keep pork off your fork and put delicious Babe-free alternatives on your shopping list instead.

 1.) Porking You Up
It’s a fact—ham, sausage, and bacon strips will go right to your hips. Eating pork products, which are loaded with artery-clogging cholesterol and saturated fat, is a good way to increase your waistline and increase your chances of developing deadly diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s, asthma, and impotence. Research has shown that vegetarians are 50 percent less likely to develop heart disease, and they have 40 percent of the cancer rate of meat-eaters. Plus, meat-eaters are nine times more likely to be obese than pure vegetarians are. Every time you eat animal products, you’re also ingesting bacteria, antibiotics, dioxins, hormones, and a host of other toxins that can accumulate in your body and remain there for years. Learn more about animal products and your health.

2.) Pigs Have Feelings Too
Ninety-seven percent of pigs in the United States today are raised in factory farms, where they will never run across sprawling pastures, bask in the sun, breathe fresh air, or do anything else that comes naturally to them. Crowded into warehouses with nothing to do and nowhere to go, they are kept on a steady diet of drugs to keep them alive and make them grow faster, but the drugs cause many of the animals to become crippled under their own bulk. Learn more about cruelty to pigs. Check out these videos from pig farms in Oklahoma, North Carolina, Nebraska, and South Dakota.

3.) Pigs and Playstations
Think that you can outplay a pig on your Playstation? You may be surprised. According to research, pigs are much smarter than dogs, and they even do better at video games than some primates. In fact, pigs are extremely clever animals who form complex social networks and have excellent memories. Eating a pig is like eating your dog! As actor Cameron Diaz put it after hearing that pigs have the mental capacities of a 3-year-old human: "[Eating bacon is] like eating my niece!" Learn more about pigs.

4.) Pigs Prefer Mud, Not Crud
Pigs are actually very clean animals. If they are given sufficient space, pigs are careful not to soil the areas where they sleep or eat. And forget the silly saying “sweating like a pig”—pigs can’t even sweat! That’s why they bathe in water or mud to cool off. But in factory farms, they’re forced to live in their own feces and vomit and even amid the corpses of other pigs. Conditions are so filthy that at any given time, more than one-quarter of pigs suffer from mange—think of your worst case of poison ivy, and imagine having to suffer from it for the rest of your life. Learn more about what happens to pigs in factory farms. Check out the mange-ridden pigs on these South Dakota and Nebraska pig farms.

5.) Farming Family Values
Factory farms are pure hell for pigs and their babies. Mother pigs spend most of their lives in tiny “gestation” crates, which are so small that the animals are unable to turn around or even lie down comfortably. They are repeatedly impregnated until they are slaughtered. Piglets, who are taken away from their distraught mothers after just a few weeks, have their tails chopped off, their teeth are clipped off with pliers, and the males are castrated—all without painkillers. Learn more about cruelty to pigs.

 6.) The Manure Is Blowing in the Wind …
A pig farm with 5,000 animals produces as much fecal waste as a city of 50,000 people. In 1995, 25 million gallons of putrid hog urine and feces spilled into a North Carolina river, immediately killing between 10 and 14 million fish. To get around water pollution limits, factory farms will frequently take the tons of urine and feces that are stored in cesspools and turn them into liquid waste that they spray into the air. This manure-filled mist is carried away by the wind and inhaled by the people who live nearby. Learn more about how factory farming damages the environment.

7.) Bacteria-Laden Bacon and Harmful Ham   
Extremely crowded conditions, poor ventilation, and filth in factory farms cause such rampant disease in pigs that 70 percent of them have pneumonia by the time they’re sent to the slaughterhouse. In order to keep pigs alive in conditions that would otherwise kill them and to promote unnaturally fast growth, the industry keeps pigs on a steady diet of the antibiotics that we depend on to treat human illnesses. This overuse of antibiotics has led to the development of “superbacteria,” or antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains. The ham, bacon, and sausage that you’re eating may make the drugs that your doctor prescribes the next time you get sick completely ineffective. Learn more about the effect of eating meat from sick, diseased, and drugged animals.

8.)  Hell on Wheels
More than 170,000 pigs die in transport each year, and more than 420,000 are crippled by the time they arrive at the slaughterhouse. Transport trucks, which carry pigs hundreds of miles through all weather extremes with no food or water, regularly flip over, throwing injured and dying animals onto the road. These terrified and injured animals are rarely offered veterinary care, and most languish in pain for hours; some even bleed to death on the side of the road. After an accident in April 2005, Smithfield spokesperson Jerry Hostetter told one reporter, “I hate to admit it, but it happens all the time.” Learn more about cruelty to pigs during transport.

9.) Killing Them Without Kindness  
A typical slaughterhouse kills up to 1,100 pigs every hour, which makes it impossible for them to be given humane, painless deaths. The U.S. Department of Agriculture 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.” Because of improper stunning methods and extremely fast line speeds, many pigs are still alive when they are dumped into scalding-hot hair-removal tanks—they literally drown in scalding-hot water. Learn more about what happens to pigs at slaughter.

10.) Ditch the Bacon and Get Fakin’
Save pigs from hell and yourself from bad health by feasting on faux pork products instead. Stuff a sandwich full of Yves brand veggie ham slices, or throw some Lightlife Smart Bacon into a sizzling skillet—the freezer and “health food” sections of your local grocery or health food stores are packed full of these and other tasty substitutes. Check out VegCooking.com for hundreds of recipes, product recommendations, vegan meal plans, and a shopping guide.

Call for a Ceasefire for Bears!

PETA is calling on Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles, and the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) to stop using Canadian bear pelts to make headpieces for the Queen’s Five Guards Regiments and to instead have the hats fashioned from luxurious faux fur.

Bears are still cruelly killed for their hides; they are either shot during hunts or are ensnared—possibly for days—in painful traps. During hunts, as many as one bear in seven does not die immediately after being shot. Some bears escape wounded, possibly dying later from blood loss or starvation. In some Canadian provinces, there are no restrictions on the shooting of mothers who have nursing cubs, leading to the slaughter of entire families during hunts.

For nearly two centuries, the British MoD has waged a war on black bears while doing nothing to further the search for synthetic materials. In fact, when PETA presented the MoD with high-tech synthetic materials—sourced from leading faux-fur manufacturers around the world and made to the MoD’s very own specifications—the MoD was quick to make negative comments about the faux fur, saying that it “lacks life” and “doesn’t bounce back.”

Instead of financially supporting the shameful slaughter of Canadian black bears, Great Britain should set a compassionate example by switching to a humane and progressive alternative and committing to stopping the killing.

Please Help Spare the Bears!
Let the British MoD know that the world is watching! Please write a polite letter requesting a reply and urging the British ambassador to the United States and British Secretary of State for Defence Des Browne, MP, to immediately stop supporting the killing of bears while they work on replacing the real fur used in the guards’ hats with cruelty-free faux fur:

His Excellency Sir David Manning
Ambassador of the United Kingdom
3100 Massachusetts Ave. N.W.
Washington, DC 20008-3600
202-588 7850 (fax)
Online E-Mail Form

The Rt Hon. Des Browne, MP
Secretary of State for Defence
Ministry of Defence, Main Building
London SW1A 2HB
England

To find out more and to view PETA’s undercover video footage, please visit UnbearableCruelty.com.

NBA Goes Leather-Free!

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is opting to permanently bench leather balls in favor of better-performing, cruelty-free synthetic basketballs, like those already in use by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Women’s National Basketball Association, beginning with its 2006/2007 season!

Although basketball may be a game to us, it’s no fun for cows whose skins are used to make basketballs. Overseas, where much of the leather used in the U.S. is produced, cows are marched to slaughter for days without food or water, causing many to collapse en route; crowded onto transport trucks, where they frequently break bones, suffocate, or gouge each other with their horns; and often dismembered and skinned while they are still alive. In this country, pigs and cattle are often inadequately stunned so that they are still conscious when their hooves are severed.

The process of tanning leather is also tremendously destructive to the environment, releasing scores of dangerous chemicals into our water supply. Tannery workers and people who live near tanneries are stricken with life-threatening diseases at rates that are many times the national average.

On January 9, 2006, PETA sent the NCAA information on the horrors of the leather industry, including the fact that it takes the skin of an entire cow to make just four basketballs. The switch to synthetic balls was announced on June 28, 2006.

It’s easy to moo-ve away from leather. In fact, Spalding Sports carries synthetic basketballs as well as volleyballs, softballs, soccerballs, and footballs. Visit CowsAreCool.com for more information.

Please spare a thought for the countless cats, dogs, mice, chicks, and rabbits languishing in Iams laboratories. These poor creatures are forced to undergo cruel, and often invasive, procedures–– none of which are required by any law . Beneath the wholesome image of the dog- and cat-food manufacturer, a 10-month PETA undercover investigation into an Iams contract laboratory revealed a dark and sordid secret: routine neglect and misery.

•  Dogs dumped on cold concrete flooring after huge chunks of muscle were cut from their thighs—27 of the 60 dogs were killed, and two others were later found dead in their cages •  Dogs and cats gone stir-crazy from confinement in windowless, dungeon-like buildings •  A procedure in which tubes were stuck down dogs' throats to force them to ingest vegetable oil •  Dogs with such severe tartar build-up on their teeth that it was painful for them to eat •  Vet technicians with inadequate training and experience performing invasive procedures Our investigator videotaped Iams representatives visiting the laboratory, witnessing the animals in these abusive conditions, and doing nothing. When PETA went public with the evidence, Iams officials lied and said that they had no idea what conditions were like inside the laboratory that their own staff regularly visited! Iams then cut ties with the lab. Iams and its owner, Procter & Gamble, still contract with outside laboratories like the one in our investigation. Iams also conducts experiments on animals in its own laboratory in the U.S. Iams says that, by October 2006, it intends to move all testing to its own facility––away from prying eyes––and will more than double the number of dogs and cats in its cages. At the March 2004 Pet Food Forum, Iams spokesperson Dan Carey stated that he believed that dogs and cats could spend their “entire lives” in cages for laboratory studies. Iams' current welfare program states that dogs and cats need only receive a paltry 30 minutes a day, five days a week, of cage-free time (with no such provision during the weekend). This means approximately 165 hours a week of unrelieved anxiety, fear, boredom, depression, lack of social contact, and inadequate exercise for these naturally gregarious and fun-loving animals. Compassionate dog-and cat-food manufacturers have proved, time and again, that reliable tests can be done humanely in a home environment or veterinary clinic with dogs and cats volunteered by their human companions. Iams can do the same. More and more consumers are deciding that they are sick of Iams' cruelty to animals and are boycotting the company's products. Please send an e-mail and tell Iams that you won't buy its products until it stops conducting laboratory experiments on animals.

According to official sources, extreme suffering is inherent
in the lives of farm animals

by Len Goldberg

For the vast majority of farm animals in Canada, misery is a way of life. According to scientific and government sources, each year millions of animals are severely confined, stressed, broken and traumatized on their way to the non-vegetarian's dinner plate, victims of a system that simply cannot afford to care for its animals humanely. The cost of extending humane treatment to the 500 million farm animals in Canada would escalate the price of animal food-products far beyond the reach of most Canadians.

With only token exceptions, affordable beef, poultry, pork and dairy cannot be produced without intense abuse of animals.

Animals face extreme confinement and painful mutilations

Egg-laying hens

On average, four hens are permanently confined in cages measuring 16 by 18 inches, analogous to four people living inside an elevator. In this unnatural environment, says poultry behaviourist Dr. Ian Duncan, "hens are not well off. They are unable to satisfy certain basic behaviourial needs: foraging, walking about, pecking, scratching and in particular nesting."

The resulting stress leads to aggression in the form of hens pecking each other, the damage from which industry tries to control by debeaking the birds shortly after birth: their beak tips are amputated without anesthetic, an operation that industry admits will cause "acute and long-term pain" in these animals.^{1, 2} The Canadian method of egg production is also known to routinely break the bones of egg-laying hens. Industry reports that "Broken bones ... have shown an alarming increase among laying hens."³

The inactivity of the animals' intense confinement, combined with the calcium loss due to artificially accelerated egg-laying, induces osteoporosis in hens, rendering their bones fragile and easily broken. "Because spent laying hens are worth very little to Canada's poultry industry, not much care is taken ... the birds' fragile bones are often broken upon removal from cages."¹

Meat-type chickens

Canada has around 2,800 farms where broiler chickens are raised for meat. Unlike laying chickens used for eggs, broiler chickens are not kept in small cages but roam around large sheds that can house up to 50,000 birds.

According to Canadian Professor of Veterinary Surgery Andrew Fraser, these conditions expose the animals to extreme suffering.

"At the beginning the young chicks have adequate space to move around, but at the end of the seven-week growing period they are under very crowded conditions. As a result of this, many broiler chicks go unnoticed when they become injured or sick and therefore die without attention. In addition, this large population of individuals experiences circumstances occasionally which cause hysteria to spread throughout the birds, with resultant crowding and suffocation of large numbers."⁴

Further, ammonia emitted by the massive buildup of urine and feces in sheds will "irritate the birds' eyes and upper respiratory tract."¹

Female Pigs

Piglets are "due for a few unpleasant surprises in the form of minor surgery. Piglets' tails are usually clipped as a precaution against tail-biting ... Most male piglets are [also] castrated. Castration is done because consumers are thought to find the meat of intact males objectionable."⁵

For six months per year, most sows are confined in crates and stalls in which they cannot turn around. This confinement "can make it impossible for animals to perform natural behaviour .... We sometimes speak of intensively housed pigs suffering from boredom or under-stimulation or thwarting of natural behaviour. The problem is very real. Confinement can also put considerable stress on the legs and hooves of pigs. As a result, lameness and hoof injuries are important problems in some herds."⁵

The Canadian pork industry counters that sows must be confined to prevent them from crushing their piglets, but scientific experts say that "most crushing occurs in the first few days after birth."⁵ Furthermore, according to a University of Guelph study, an estimated " 30% of growing pigs suffer from ulcers, and between 10 and 40% may eventually die from the ailment." The same study reveals that the high percentage of waste in the pig's diet can cause vomiting and diarrhea.⁶

Dairy cows

People who regard milk as "the perfect food" rarely think about milk as a commercial product – prone to the hazards of mass-production. John Robbins, author of May All Be Fed, puts it well; "The modern-day Bessie is now bred, fed, medicated, inseminated, and manipulated for a single purpose – maximum milk production at a minimum cost."

While sometimes permitted to range in open pasture, dairy cows still spend most of their lives chained by the neck in milk stalls, reduced to lethargic milking machines. Even Ottawa's Experimental Farm, known for relatively "humane" standards, says its dairy cows are chained by the neck 23 hours a day during winter months.

In order to produce milk, a dairy cow must give birth. To maximize their milk supply they are artificially inseminated every year, meaning they are pregnant for a physically demanding 9 months out of every 12. Their calves are traumatically taken from them shortly after birth. The resulting surplus of calves feeds the veal industry.

With genetic manipulation and intensive production technologies, Canadian cows produce an average of 9,519 kg of milk per year ^7a — seven times more than they would produce naturally. When their milk production wanes after about four years, dairy cows are sent to slaughter where their worn out bodies are ground up into hamburger.

These unnatural conditions make the modern dairy cow highly prone to stress and disease.

Veal calves

Dairy cows must produce offspring every year to keep their milk supply flowing. The result is large surplus of calves. According the Ontario Farm Animal Council, "Veal farming has made it possible to turn by-products of the dairy industry into a positive contribution to our food chain." ^7b Unfortunately that comes at the expense of the animals involved. Male veal calves are sold to the veal industry and raised in dark sheds. Motherless and alone, they may suffer from anemia, diarrhea, pneumonia, and lameness and see the light of day only on their way to slaughter. Female calves are added to the dairy herd or are slaughtered for the rennet in their stomachs (used to make cheese).

Many calves are isolated in stalls, a practice described by Agriculture Canada as "thought to have a negative effect on animal well-being" in the form of restricted movement and lack of outlet for natural behaviour.  As well, "anemia can affect special-fed veal calves during all stages of growth," which is caused by iron reduction to make their flesh pale. ⁸

There are approximately 500 – 700 veal farms in Ontario worth about $450 million.

Beef Cattle

After being castrated and dehorned, these animals may initially be permitted to run free with their mothers on the open range for 6-11 months. After that period of freedom, however, calves are taken from their mothers, with whom they share a powerful instinctive bond, and are shipped to barren feedlots. On some larger feedlots, thousands of cattle can be lined up side by side in cramped quarters. ⁹

Severe heat stress

During severe heat waves, death and suffering among farm animals is both widespread and expected in Canada's pork and poultry industries. Since industry believes that the cost of air conditioning outweighs the economic cost of death, most pigs and chickens are left unprotected when heat waves increase the temperature of their indoor quarters to extreme levels. 

In Ontario, the poultry industry reports that hundreds of thousands of hens can be wiped out in a single heat wave, while many more will suffer intensely. ^{10, 1}

And according to Pork News and Views, "Heat stress usually occurs in hot weather or during periods of physical activity when the pig can no longer maintain its body temperature by panting (pigs have no sweat glands) and the animals' body temperature rises to an uncontrollable level. A pig that is in distress makes loud, deep gasping sounds...." ¹¹

For animal agriculture, heat stress is so widespread that it's generated a thriving industry: "Ontario presently has some forty-five organizations involved in a large network of dead stock processing." ¹¹

Traumatic transport

"The final hours for too many animals are unspeakably painful," says the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies (CFHS) in reference to transport of animals to slaughter in Canada. "There isn't the staff to enforce transportation regulations and the penalties have not been stiff enough to discourage careless truckers." ¹²

Confirms Agriculture Canada research scientist Dr. David Fraser with reference to pigs, "Several rules of good husbandry may be broken all at once in the few hours before the animals are killed or moved to a new farm." ⁵ Without question, farm-animal transportation in Canada is fundamentally inhumane.

Animals crippled in transit are sometimes dragged alive from the truck by a chain or rope. For example, livestock rigs do not contain air-cooling systems, meaning millions of animals are exposed to "extreme suffering due to severe heat stress." Approximately 2.5 to 3 million poultry die annually in Canada during shipment to federally inspected slaughterhouses, due to what poultry scientists call primarily "severe heat stress" and additional trauma. ^{13, 1}

Despite Canada's bitter cold winter, transport vehicles are also not generally equipped with heating systems. "Too often the animals are left unattended for long periods in the back of a freezing cold truck," exposing animals to extreme suffering and even death. ¹²

En route, animals may face severe food and water deprivation. Federal regulations allow farm animals to be transported without food or water for 36-72 hours, depending on the species. ¹⁴

Furthermore, overcrowding of animals on vehicles is routine and expected in Canada. According to Pork News and Views "...there should be an adjustment in the number of pigs per load to avoid bruising, stress, and possibly death losses during transit." ¹⁵

The combination of harsh farm life, rough handling and severe overcrowding on trucks is known to cripple large numbers of farm animals in Canada. Animals crippled in transit are "sometimes dragged alive from the truck by a chain or rope." Referring to what the industry calls 'downers', Dr. Gord Doonan, Acting Chief of Humane Transportation, Agriculture Canada, confirms: "This has been a big problem in Canada." In Ontario, for example, approximately 7,000 crippled dairy cows arrive at provincial slaughter plants annually. ^{12, 16, 17}

Inhumane slaughter

A 1982 survey revealed that animals are abused or inhumanely slaughtered at a majority of Canadian slaughterhouses. Abuses included improper stunning leading to painful slaughter; dragging of crippled animals; leaving crippled animals to die lingering deaths; and castration of boars without anesthetic. ¹⁸

In 1993, another survey recorded improvements in 11 Canadian slaughterhouses representing approximately 40% of hogs and cattle slaughtered. The plants, however, were not selected randomly, meaning unsatisfactory plants could be excluded; all plants received advance notice; and no provincial or poultry plants allowed inspection. ¹⁹

A 1995 survey of 21 Canadian slaughterhouses was undertaken, but "The itinerary was predetermined by representatives of Agriculture Canada, the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies, the Canadian Meat Council and the Canadian Poultry and Egg Processors Council." Nonetheless, even this highly controlled survey revealed that some slaughterhouses exposed animals to unreasonable suffering before and during the slaughter process: "Twenty one percent of the livestock plants and half the ritual and poultry plants were out of compliance." ²⁰

Problems noted included: catheterizing of conscious sheep; bashing of sheep repeatedly with a wooden board; throat-cutting of conscious hens; ineffective throat cutting in ritual plants; extreme pre-slaughter stress for terrified animals, including intense noise, slick floors and tying up of conscious animals. ²⁰

To industry's credit, the survey reports that at least some problems will be rectified; however, it is likely that similar problems will continue to exist in many other Canadian slaughterhouses, the vast majority of which were not covered in this survey.

Ralph Lauren, long recognized as a leader in fashion, is now also a leader in compassion after announcing a precedent-setting decision to no longer use fur in any of his apparel or home collections, based purely on ethical grounds.

The Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation had been considering eliminating fur from its lines for some time and finally issued a statement making its decision to go fur-free official after a series of meetings with PETA during which executives viewed grisly undercover video footage of fur farms in China, where more than half the finished fur garments imported for sale in the United States are sourced. Shortly after meetings with PETA in February and March 2006, the company committed to pulling all fur from its shelves. “Fur has never been an integral part of our design strategy …,” said a Polo Ralph Lauren spokesperson. “We are publicly announcing this decision because the use of fur has been under review internally and we feel that the time is right to take this action.”

On fur farms in China, animals are confined to tiny wire cages through all weather extremes. Before they are skinned, workers bludgeon them with metal rods and slam them against the ground, breaking their bones but not always killing them. Many animals are skinned while they are still alive.

The Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation sent PETA a signed statement of assurance acknowledging its intent to pull all advertising for fur, cancel all pending orders for fur products, and beginning with its holiday 2006 collections, no longer sell any fur products. Twelve hundred of its brand-new fall 2006 fur-trimmed coats will be donated to charities in developing nations.

Ralph Lauren’s compassionate, progressive decision sends a powerful message to the clothing industry that torturing and killing rabbits, raccoons, foxes, and other animals for fashion won’t be tolerated.

Foes see foie gras as a fat target

 

After more than 10,000 demonstrations, coast-to-coast television ads and billboards, and a slew of letters from consumers and celebrities such as Pamela Anderson and Sir Paul McCartney, PETA is hearing from our dedicated activists nationwide that KFC stores are kicking the bucket. Regular protests at KFC restaurants in Palo Alto, San Francisco, and Long Beach, California; Washington, D.C.; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Eugene, Oregon; and New York, New York (where a KFC was closed down that—according to one KFC owner—once generated upwards of $30,000 per week) have caused KFCs to throw in the towel and close their doors for good.

It’s no wonder that people don’t want to eat at KFC anymore—with drugged-up chickens who suffer broken legs and have their throats slit or are scalded to death while still completely conscious, who can blame them? If KFC officials won’t listen to the countless kind people—including members of their own animal welfare panel—who have contacted them about the cruel treatment of chickens for their restaurants, perhaps they will listen to their shrinking wallets.

Let us know if a KFC you’ve been protesting has closed down.

Find out how you can help get KFC out of your city.

With tremendous grassroots pressure bearing down on Congress this week, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously approved a measure late Thursday to protect wild horses from slaughter. The outpouring of support from the American public was so overwhelming that House leadership conceded to the provision without a vote by individual members.

Reps. Nick Rahall (D-WV), Ed Whitfield (R-KY), John Sweeney (R-NY), and John Spratt (D-SC) successfully offered an amendment to the spending bill for the Department of the Interior for fiscal year 2007. The measure would end the commercial sale and subsequent slaughter of wild horses and burros.

Last year, the House overwhelmingly approved an identical amendment in a 249-159 bipartisan vote, as well as another similar appropriations amendment to prohibit horse slaughter, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture thwarted the will of Congress and used private funding to enable the grisly slaughter of horses to continue.

Take Action!

Tell Congress to protect horses by supporting a permanent ban on horse slaughter for food export.

"A public outcry has again begun across the United States over the change in law that now allows the commercial sale and slaughter of these animals," Rahall said. "We need to act before it is too late for thousands of these animals."

America's wild horses were protected from sale and slaughter for 34 years. Then, a year and a half ago, those protections were removed through a highly controversial legislative maneuver, without hearings, debate, or the introduction of a bill.

Late in 2004, Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) attached a provision to an omnibus spending bill, which passed without any public review and reversed a longstanding federal policy of protecting wild horses from being sold at auctions and subsequently shipped to slaughter plants.

Wild Horses Sent to Slaughter

It is already too late for hundreds of horses. On April 15, 2005, six horses were purchased by Oklahoman Dustin Herbert. Only three days later, these horses were sent directly to a foreign-owned slaughter plant in Illinois. Mr. Herbert told the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) that he intended to use the horses for a church youth program.

One week later, another 35 were killed at the same slaughter plant after being traded unwittingly by the Rosebud Sioux Tribe soon after they were sold by BLM. By pure chance, another 52 were snatched from the slaughter plant line in a last-minute effort to preserve their lives by fast-thinking officials. Since then, we've lost hundreds more of our treasured wild horses to the slaughterhouse. We have graphic evidence in hand now that sale authority is not a workable solution.

Cruel and Inhumane Practice

The cruelty of horse slaughter is not limited to the slaughter itself. Economics, not humane considerations, dictate transport conditions. Horses are shipped in crowded trucks, frequently over long distances, and are typically given no food, water or rest. The truck ceilings are so low that horses are not able to hold their heads in a normal, balanced position. 

"Horses have done so much for us in our country's history," said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The HSUS. "They deserve much better than to be trucked across the country, prodded onto the slaughterhouse floor, hoisted up by a rear leg, and then bled out with a sharp cut to the throat-simply to appease the palates of foreign gourmands."

Only three horse slaughterhouses remain in the United States—two in Texas, one in Illinois—and all three are foreign-owned.

The Need for a Permanent Ban 

Congress cast strong, bipartisan votes on the interior and agriculture appropriations bills for fiscal year 2006 in both the House and Senate (House Interior 249-159; House Agriculture 269-158; Senate Agriculture 69-28). But when the U.S. Department of Agriculture's found a way to circumvent the amendment to continue horse slaughter, it did more than undermine the will of Congress—it illustrated a clear need for a permanent horse slaughter ban with passage of the American Horse Slaughter Protection Act.

"Congress, on behalf of millions of Americans, has spoken out by an overwhelming majority to save these majestic icons of the West from a certain and inhumane death, and for that we're very grateful," Pacelle added. "It's up to Congress now to act with equal passion and pass the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act to keep all American horses from ending up in the hands of killer buyers and ultimately on dinner plates in Europe and Asia

Animals Used for Entertainment FAQs

“Don’t zoos teach children important lessons about wildlife?”

No, zoos claim to educate people about animals, but small enclosures do not allow animals to display their natural behaviors, and signs typically tell visitors little more than the names of the animals, where they can be found, and what they eat.

Animals’ normal behaviors are seldom discussed—much less observed—at zoos because their natural needs are rarely met in zoo environments. Many animals who live in large herds or family groups in the wild are kept alone or, at most, in pairs at zoos. Natural hunting and mating behaviors are virtually eliminated by regulated feeding and breeding regimens. Animals at zoos lack privacy and have little opportunity for mental stimulation or physical exercise. These conditions cause them to exhibit abnormal, self-destructive behaviors called zoochosis.

Many zoo officials focus on profits rather than the well-being of the animals. A former director of the Atlanta Zoo once remarked that he was “too far removed from the animals; they’re the last thing I worry about with all the other problems.” Zoos teach people that it is acceptable to keep animals in captivity, where they are bored, cramped, lonely, far from their natural homes, and at the mercy and whim of people.

Read more about the lives of captive animals at zoos.

“Don't zoos help preserve endangered species?”

Most animals in zoos are not endangered or being prepared for release into natural habitats. In fact, it is nearly impossible to release captive-bred animals into the wild. A report by the World Society for the Protection of Animals showed that only 1,200 out of the 10,000 zoos worldwide are registered for captive breeding and wildlife conservation and that only 2 percent of the world’s threatened or endangered species are registered in breeding programs.

Rather than nurturing animals to thrive in natural settings, zoos place very unnatural restrictions on their residents. For example, in zoos, polar bears are typically confined to spaces that are only one-millionth the size of their minimum home range in the wild. Animals who roam across large distances in nature often exhibit dementia and stereotypical behaviors from boredom when placed in zoo enclosures, endlessly pacing or swimming in circles.

Ultimately, we will only save endangered species by preserving their habitats and protecting them from hunters—not by breeding a few individuals in captivity. Instead of supporting zoos, we should support groups such as the International Primate Protection League, the Born Free Foundation, and other organizations that work to preserve habitats, and we should also help nonprofit sanctuaries, like The Elephant Sanctuary and the Performing Animal Welfare Society, that rescue and care for exotic animals without selling or breeding them.

Read about elephants who are captured from the wild for zoos.

“Aren't racehorses treated well so that they'll perform better?”

Sadly, for many equine athletes, injury and death are always just a hoofbeat away. One study on racetrack injuries concluded that one horse in every 22 races suffered an injury that prevented him or her from finishing the race, and another study estimated that 800 thoroughbreds die from injuries every year in North America. Over time, selective breeding has made thoroughbreds’ legs far too fragile for their bodies. Most thoroughbreds are owned by corporations that are only interested in the money that the animals can make for them, and such owners don’t hesitate to sell horses to slaughterhouse “kill buyers” when they break down.

Before they are slaughtered, though, many horses are turned into junkies by their trainers and veterinarians, who provide drugs to keep them racing even when they shouldn’t be on the track because of their injuries. Many are forced to run with hairline fractures, which would be too painful without drugs. “There are trainers pumping horses full of illegal drugs every day,” said a former Churchill Downs public relations director. “With so much money on the line, people will do anything to make their horses run faster.”

A New York Daily News reporter remarked, “The thoroughbred race horse is a genetic mistake. It runs too fast, its frame is too large, and its legs are far too small. As long as mankind demands that it run at high speeds under stressful conditions, horses will die at racetracks.”

Read more about the horse racing industry.

“I love seeing animals at the circus, and they don’t seem to mind performing, so why is PETA against the use of animals in circuses?”

In his book, The Circus Kings, Ringling Bros. founder Henry Ringling North noted that at circuses, tigers and lions are “chained to their pedestals, and ropes are put around their necks to choke them down and make them obey. All sorts of other brutalities are used to force them to respect their trainer and learn their tricks. They work from fear.”

He also wrote that trainers commonly break bears’ noses or burn their paws to force them to stand on their hind legs and that monkeys and chimpanzees are struck with clubs while they scream.

The fact is, animals do not naturally ride bicycles, stand on their heads, balance on balls, or jump through rings of fire. To force them to perform these confusing and physically uncomfortable tricks, trainers use whips, tight collars, muzzles, electric prods, bullhooks, and other painful tools of the trade.

We applaud trapeze artists, jugglers, clowns, tightrope walkers, and acrobats, but let’s leave animals in peace. Sweden, Denmark, Finland, India, Switzerland, and the U.K. have all banned or restricted the use of animals in entertainment—it’s time for the U.S. to do the same.

Read more about circus cruelty.

“What's wrong with rodeos?”

In order to make them perform, normally docile cows and horses are beaten, kicked, and shocked while they are in their chutes and holding pens. “Bucking broncos” and steers are provoked with electric prods, sharp sticks, caustic ointments, and the pinching “bucking” strap so that the animals are frantic by the time they are released into the arena. Calves, who are roped while they are running, have their necks snapped back by the lasso, which often results in neck and back injuries, bruises, broken bones, and internal bleeding.

After their short and painful “careers,” animals in rodeos are sent to the slaughterhouse. Dr. C.G. Haber, a veterinarian who spent 30 years as a federal meat inspector, described the animals discarded from rodeos for slaughter as being “so extensively bruised that the only areas in which the skin was attached [to the flesh] were the head, neck, leg, and belly. I have seen animals with six to eight ribs broken from the spine and, at times, puncturing the lungs. I have seen as much as 2 to 3 gallons of free blood accumulated under the detached skin.”

Every national animal protection organization opposes rodeos because of their inherent cruelty. Urge your community to buck the rodeo.

Watch undercover video of rodeo abuse.