A display some found helpful, others disturbing has been stopping shoppers at Walmart in South Abilene today.
Even if you were just driving by, you may have noticed a large, bloody inflatable pig out front.
It wasn't there just for show, it was there to make a statement.
"I was appalled. I mean, it's totally unacceptable," says Heather Barnes, a passerby who saw the large display.
For sixty minutes, two men clad in high-end threads stood seriously, with very serious allegations.
Phil Letten, campaign coordinator for Mercy For Animals says, "Confining mother pigs into these tiny stalls, where they are unable to even turn around or lie down comfortably for their entire lives is simply out of step with most Americans basic values."
Mercy For Animals is an organization based out of Los Angeles fighting for animal rights. They say investigations have unconvered the pork sold in Walmart stores comes from factory farms where the pigs are not only neglected, but tortured and abused.
Letten adds, "Basically, every other major food provider in the country has come out in opposition to gestation crates except for Walmart and it is unacceptable."
Walmart responded in a statement to us today saying in part, "This is a complicated issue and there are different points of view.....we hold our suppliers to the highest standards and do not tolerate animal mistreatment."
Locals have mixed reactions.
"I think that there's a lot more going on in the world. I think that there's slavery going on in the world and if people had the same passion for other humans, a lot more could be getting done," says Kimberly Chaffey, a Walmart shopper.
Barnes says, "I won't spend any more money here. They're a big enough company to know. They should be checking into their suppliers, what they're doing."
The group plans to take its display to other Walmarts across the nation, carrying the same message to shoppers in other states.
Even if you were just driving by, you may have noticed a large, bloody inflatable pig out front.
It wasn't there just for show, it was there to make a statement.
"I was appalled. I mean, it's totally unacceptable," says Heather Barnes, a passerby who saw the large display.
For sixty minutes, two men clad in high-end threads stood seriously, with very serious allegations.
Phil Letten, campaign coordinator for Mercy For Animals says, "Confining mother pigs into these tiny stalls, where they are unable to even turn around or lie down comfortably for their entire lives is simply out of step with most Americans basic values."
Mercy For Animals is an organization based out of Los Angeles fighting for animal rights. They say investigations have unconvered the pork sold in Walmart stores comes from factory farms where the pigs are not only neglected, but tortured and abused.
Letten adds, "Basically, every other major food provider in the country has come out in opposition to gestation crates except for Walmart and it is unacceptable."
Walmart responded in a statement to us today saying in part, "This is a complicated issue and there are different points of view.....we hold our suppliers to the highest standards and do not tolerate animal mistreatment."
Locals have mixed reactions.
"I think that there's a lot more going on in the world. I think that there's slavery going on in the world and if people had the same passion for other humans, a lot more could be getting done," says Kimberly Chaffey, a Walmart shopper.
Barnes says, "I won't spend any more money here. They're a big enough company to know. They should be checking into their suppliers, what they're doing."
The group plans to take its display to other Walmarts across the nation, carrying the same message to shoppers in other states.
Comments
Is walmart seriously as blind as they claim to be or oare they just trying to cover their [censored]? If the treatment of these poor babies is what they call their "higest standards" then I think it is time to gather all the blind big wigs and make em spens a week or two at these "humane" farms and see for themselves just how low their standards really are!
Anne A.
August 30, 2012 at 11:41 am
Get ready for pork to cost more than prime rib if these people have their way. Of course, this is just a step on the road they want to take us down that ends with us all being vegans.
Dr. J.
August 9, 2012 at 5:06 pm
Oh, yes. Totally. Let's give pigs rights and then stop shopping for things. Then, let's give cows rights, and birds, and chairs rights. Let's protest chair rights. Then let's march for Pluto, for the way it's been treated by the scientific community. "PLUTO IS A PLANET! CAN YOU NOT UNDERSTAND IT!"
Eh...I don't see why people make such a big deal about what they're protesting. I mean, the pigs are there to be slaughtered and turned into food. There are thousands of pigs there. Do those people expect for the pigs, who will only be there a short while, to be given cozy homes and fluffy pillows, and treated like royalty? I'm not in the business, but I would imagine that that'd be alot of money, and be time consuming, and also you'd feel connected to the pig. What did Charlotte's Web teach us? when a pig is about to be slaughtered, do not befriend it. If the pigs were treated like royalty in the SLAUGHTERHOUSE, we'd have thousands of Some Pigs.
Buraian M.
August 9, 2012 at 2:58 pm
