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HBO Cruelty Doc Makes Pork Industry Squeamish

By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff

Posted Mar 6, 2009 4:40 PM CST
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(Newser) – A documentary on animal cruelty at an Ohio hog farm has the pork industry considering how to better represent its “commitment to animal care,” Reuters reports. The footage in Death on a Factory Farm, taken secretly, led to animal-cruelty prosecutions, though the charged workers were acquitted. HBO airs the film beginning March 16. “What happened on this farm is not common practice,” an industry rep says of the documentary footage.

With consumers already facing high pork prices, producers at an annual gathering vowed to counter the bad publicity. “It's not as much about what the animal-rights activists are saying about how we are raising pigs,” one board member said, “as opposed to us demonstrating that we do care and we are giving the best possible care.”

A worker weighs a pig's head being sold at a public meat shop in Paranaque, south of Manila, Philippines.
A worker weighs a pig's head being sold at a public meat shop in Paranaque, south of Manila, Philippines.   (AP Photo)
A Greenville, Ohio, hog farm.
A Greenville, Ohio, hog farm.   (AP Photo)
A worker prepares pigs at a slaughterhouse.
A worker prepares pigs at a slaughterhouse.   (AP Photo)
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A scene from the documentary. Beware: no slaughter, but not for the faint of heart.   (DeathonaFactoryFarm)

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 15 comments
Guest
Jan 20, 2010 10:39 PM CST
you need to be sick for treated the pigs so cruelty, I hope those people will pay the prices in jail .
Guest
Jan 18, 2010 6:10 AM CST
There will be fewer people, whether we like it or not; eventually Earth will reach her breaking point, and there simply won't be enough resources to go around. We already reached Peak Water a few years ago—where the amount of water on earth isn't enough for all the people here. The population is only around 6.5 billion at this point, and it's expected to reach 9 billion; expect it to get pretty hot in here. In the meantime, meat consumption is also expected to double as the world becomes more affluent. In our lifetimes, you shouldn't worry about silly things like overpopulation; after all, nobody alive today will be alive 100 years from now. Eat what you want and shit where you want.
Guest
May 17, 2009 4:15 AM CDT
Everyone should be allowed to make there own choice about whether they eat meat or not. The real decision should be, how that meat is brought to market. If every meat eater in this country stood up and just demanded their meat be treated humanely, you would see alot let Peta activists picketing. If every meat eater made this demand, fast food restaurants would have to succumb and demand this as well. It is a domino effect, and one that would please both the vegetarians and meat eaters of this country. The hardest part I have accepting about all this is how can a person own a pet, care for its well being and suffering, and not give the same respect to other animals with the same capacity for pain and suffering that our pets have.

A pork industry mouthpiece advises caution in this economic climate
Pork Magazine

Another hit for pork producers: dust regulation
The Rural Blog

The film's site at HBO
HBO

 
HBO • Ohio • animal cruelty • pig • pork • documentary film • prosecutions • National Pork Board • factory farm

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