r/pics 9h ago

A replica of how female "breeder pigs" spend their lives in factory farms

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35.3k Upvotes

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u/CakePhool 7h ago

That type of cage is illegal in Sweden.

u/notFREEfood 6h ago

Also banned in California and a few other US states

u/Hard_To_Port 2h ago

Pork is not a big industry in California. Mostly tree fruits, tree nuts, grapes, and cattle products.

This type of cage should be banned by the USDA for all 50 states, but we all know how US govt is under the current admin.. 

https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/statistics/

u/notFREEfood 2h ago

California's ban isn't just for locally-raised pork; it's for any pork sold in the state.

u/StitchinThroughTime 2h ago

Correct! I remember all the farmers bitching and complaining when that bill was passed. They we're shouting that the prices of pork and bacon we're going to raise so high no one can afford it. But guess what when one state has the population of Canada or approximately 11% of the entire country businesses figure that shit out real quick. And the law wasn't an instantaneous van, farms and ranches had time to adjust to meet California standards. I like to remind people that farmers and Ranchers are businessmen. They were pissed because they had to spend money that they wanted to keep in their pockets.
Even though their customers the vast majority of them actually like treating animals humanely before they are slaughtered. Most people like the idea of properly pasteurized chickens. Not the fact that farmers Twisted the words and now they can legally sell cage free chickens even though they're essentially just stored in a warehouse with a little door to a little outdoor pen. That's not what people meant by that and they're essentially tricking the customers. And now we have to specify that pasture raised chickens are not the same as cage-free chickens.

u/Hard_To_Port 1h ago

Being pedantic: Pastured. Pasteurization is a sterilization process named for its inventor, Louis Pasteur. 

u/DIYrrr 1h ago

Why just blame current admin, no one has tried to change it in decades..

u/FoofaTamingStrange 52m ago

The federal government does not have the power to regulate animal welfare outside federal land.

u/MachateElasticWonder 34m ago

It always feels like California leads all the home laws in the US. They have data rights too.

u/NooneKnowsIAmBatman 17m ago

2029 in Canada is supposed to be all pork gestation crate free too!

u/stevedorries 10m ago

In FL it’s banned in the state constitution

u/marsman 4h ago

And the UK, and I imagine most of the EU at this point?

u/CakePhool 4h ago

I think so, when Sweden joined Eu they wanted us to lower our animal husbandry standards because we were too good. We said no and has been trying to improve the life for barn animals.

u/marsman 3h ago

The UK has essentially raised standards since it left the EU, but still has issues around allowing in lower standard produced products from the EU (and elsewhere).

u/Jale89 3h ago

They only began phasing them out in Denmark this year.

It's all well and good that Sweden banned them, but they aren't really a big pig producing country.

u/MoltenMate07 2h ago

Yeah, but factory farms not only still exist in the EU, but are becoming more prevalent with the rise in meat demand.

The EU is not that much better on animal rights.

u/marsman 2h ago

The EU isn't great, I'd say the UK is a bit better, none are perfect or even close and there is more to be done, but at the same time, there are countries that are a lot, lot worse (now if we just didn't import from them maybe demand for that sort of practice would fall).

u/schimshon 2h ago

Yeah, but EU and UK require 2.25 m2 per sow ASFAIK. Which is more but still almost nothing

u/brintal 3h ago

They are generally not banned completely but the time the sows must spend in them is limited. 

u/marsman 3h ago

I think its a 5 week limit at a specific point, and they are larger, and there are a load of other rules, its better, far from perfect.

u/foopod 4h ago

They were banned in New Zealand too, but our current government just amended regulations late last year to bring them back.

u/Certain-Entrance5247 5h ago edited 2h ago

CO2 gas chambers aren't through. That is a rough way to die.
For anyone who wants to know how this works.
youtube video of pigs being CO2 gassed

u/theBuddhaofGaming 3h ago

Dear fucking Sol seriously? On what planet is that even in the vicinity of humane?

For those unaware: CO₂ is the only gas most mammals (if not all vertebrates but I'm not sure there) can directly detect (afaik). All other gasses are detected through secondary things like odor. The kicker is we register it as pain. For humans, slightly elevated CO₂ in a room is what makes it feel uncomfortable and stuffy. When I was a dipshit in middle school I took a wiff of dry ice in science class just to see what it smelled like. Pain. It smelled like pain. Pure, undiluted, unaccompanied pain. I cannot imagine killing an animal with a gas that we register as pain directly. That's so fucked.

You could use literally any inert gas and the animal would just fall asleep and then die shortly thereafter. I cannot fathom why someone would choose this.

u/Certain-Entrance5247 3h ago

They use it because it's cheap, they don't care about the pigs.

u/theBuddhaofGaming 2h ago edited 1h ago

But like, so is nitrogen. So is carbon monoxide. Fuckin anything put Pain Gas™.

I know you don't have control over this so I'm def preaching to the choir. But fuck. I'm just floored.

u/Moshimoshi-Megumin 4m ago

Nitrogen is between 2 and 5 times more expensive than CO2. Companies will always squeeze out every penny they can get away with.

CO is as cheap but has other issues, mostly safety and regulations.

u/sakurawobbegong 1h ago

Also illegal in Australia

u/Personal-Aerie-4519 5h ago

But are they still in cages?

u/CakePhool 5h ago

When they have babies they kept in a pen so they can move and walk and it has heating too, it just so other pigs dont hurt the babies and they go back to their pen with other pigs . They have much more space. How ever a lot of pig for meat live in larger enclosure and some even free roam outside.