Before bed last night I was reading more of Gene Baur’s Farm Sanctuary. He said that pigs are very social creatures and form long lasting bonds with one another and generally treat elder pigs with respect.
I had always heard that pigs were very smart animals, but was surprised to hear that their intelligence is roughly that of a 3 year old child. As I read the book I kept imagining confused and frightened 3 year old children being treated the way the pigs are. It was an image I couldn’t shake as I read on.
On the factory farms the breeding sows are constantly kept pregnant and live their lives isolated in a metal cage with a grate below it for their waste to fall into. Basically, the only things they can do are eat, drink, lay down and stand up. They can not turn around as the box is too small. The stress of living in those confines must be incredible and maddening. The male pigs are manually masturbated by farm workers in order to get their semen. Then the sows are artificially inseminated with the semen and the cycle begins all over. What an unnatural life those poor animals live.
After giving birth the piglets are with the mother for a couple of weeks to drink their mother’s milk. Then the piglets are shipped off to a pen where, instead of being isolated, they are crowded together in such a unhealthy manner that they have to be plied with antibiotics in order to ward of disease. The young pigs get their tails cut off and the male pigs are castrated, both with nothing to diminish the pain. After several months the bigs grow fat enough to be butchered.
I couldn’t help but think about what a barbaric way that is to treat any animal, much less such intelligent creatures. While there may always be people that want to eat meat, there is no reason to treat the animals so badly. Is saving a few cents a pound on meat really worth giving these helpless animals a lifetime of utter misery?
Not that long ago, farmers and their animals had relationships and some farmers even gave names to some of the animals. That didn’t mean that the animals wouldn’t eventually be butchered, but while the animals lived they were cared for and had a decent life with some joy in it.
In this modern era of efficiency and profits, animals have become just another cog in a machine whose only purpose is to turn out profits. Even the people that work in the factory farms are frequently treated very poorly. They are often undocumented workers that put in long hours in dangerous conditions for little pay. This needs to change. Factory farming reforms are already in place in Europe, but in America the factory farm lobbyists manage to water down whatever legislation manages to get through.
I know that that is some pretty heavy stuff, but we can all be encouraged that by simply changing out eating habits and getting more vocal about the humane treatment of animals that we can make the world a better place for animals and people alike. 
Today for breakfast I had the usual oatmeal with nuts, apples and raisins. For lunch I had a vegan rice and black bean burrito that bought at Vitamin Cottage earlier this week. It was pretty bland, uninspired and in want of some hot sauce to give it some flavor.
For dinner Cheryl, Ally, Connor and I went out to Macaroni Grill, where we started off with their delicious bread and olive oil. Next I had a side garden salad that was just terrible. For my entree’ I tried their new “build your own pasta” dish. I had whole wheat penne pasta, with a tomato basil sauce, sun-dried tomatoes, broccoli and mushrooms. This was a pretty good (B+) vegan dish that I enjoyed. However, the whole wheat pasta is an acquired taste and I expect that the regular penne pasta would be more appealing to most people.
Later on I snacked on some popcorn and called it a night.
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