Denny’s and the extreme cruelty against pigs
Denny’s, an American diner-style restaurant chain known for always being open, promised to end the use of crates for pregnant mother pigs in 2012. Instead of fulfilling its commitment, Denny’s has reported little progress in removing and reducing gestation crates from their supply chain, and now only agrees to work toward a 50% goal to stop forcing pregnant pigs to be locked in crates that are barely bigger than their own bodies.
Confining a pig to a cage for an entire pregnancy is illegal in 11 U.S. states, the European Union, Australia, New Zealand, the U.K., and Sweden. It is being phased out in Canada and Brazil.
Over 60 major companies, including Denny’s competitors, have eliminated or are in the process of eliminating the use of gestation crates. It’s time for Denny’s to do the same.
Tell Denny’s to end the use of cages
Experts agree:
Mother pigs suffer in crates
Gestation crates for pigs are a real problem…
Temple Grandin
Basically, you’re asking a sow to live in an airline seat…
I think it’s something that needs to be phased out.
[T]he close confinement of sows in stalls or tethers is one of the most extreme examples of cruelty to an animal. It continues throughout much of life and is much worse than severely beating an animal or most laboratory experiments.
Donald M. Broom
Confinement of sows during pregnancy, especially in individual stalls or on tethers, can be cold, uncomfortable and injurious, and imposes severe restrictions on natural behaviour.
John Webster
6 million pigs are in gestation crates
In U.S. pig factory farms, most of the 6 million female pigs are confined in a gestation cage for nearly four months during their pregnancy.
After they give birth and their piglets are weaned and taken away from them, they are forced into these crates again to repeat the painful cycle.
Cruelest forms of confinement
These 7-by-2-foot crates take a large physical and mental toll on the animals. Pigs cannot walk, turn around, or even stand comfortably in these crates. Beneath them are hard floors with slats for the urine and feces to fall through before collecting in giant outdoor waste lagoons.
Professor Ian Duncan, a scholar of animal welfare at the University of Guelph, has described it as “one of the cruelest forms of confinement devised by humankind.”
Pigs can’t even turn around
Scientific research shows that living crammed in a gestation cage causes physical and psychological suffering to pigs.
This includes lameness due to weak bones and muscles, abrasion injuries, cardiovascular problems, overgrown hooves, digestive problems, and urinary tract problems.
These companies have committed to banning cages for mother pigs
Spare animals by eating plant-based
There is no easier way to help animals and prevent suffering than by choosing plant-based foods over meat, fish, eggs, and dairy.
Visit LoveVeg.com for tips and recipes.
