Hormel Supplier Caught Abusing Mother Pigs and Piglets
Undercover footage from an Iowa pig factory farm
that supplies Hormel—the company that
makes SPAM and other pork products
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Update: An Iowa, U.S., sheriff has announced that 22 charges of livestock neglect and abuse have been filed against six former employees of the Hormel supplier that PETA U.S. recently investigated.
For more than three months, PETA U.S. went undercover at an Iowa pig factory farm, which supplies piglets who are grown and killed for Hormel products. The investigator found rampant cruelty to animals—committed by workers and supervisors. The farm changed ownership and management during PETA U.S.' investigation, but that made no difference to the animals who were born and confined there: Abuse and neglect were widespread during PETA U.S.' entire investigation.
In addition to employees' multiple admissions of cruelty to animals—one supervisor even bragged about shoving metal gate rods up pigs' rectums—abuses were witnessed daily, and much of it was caught on camera. The following are just some of the abuses that were documented:
- A supervisor shoved a cane into a sow's vagina, struck her on the back about 17 times, and then struck another sow.
- Multiple pigs were beaten with metal gate rods, and lacerations were found on more than 30 sows—which is probably evidence of more abuse.
- A worker hit a young pig in the face four times with the edge of a herding board, and investigators witnessed dozens of similar incidents involving this worker and 11 other workers.
- Two men—including a supervisor—were witnessed jabbing clothespins into pigs' eyes and faces. A supervisor also poked two animals in the eyes with his fingers.
- A supervisor kicked a young pig in the face, abdomen, and genitals to make her move and told PETA U.S.' investigator, "You gotta beat on the bitch. Make her cry."
- A worker who weighed an estimated 315 lbs. punched a sow on the back three times and said that he sat on a sow's head.
- An employee sprayed blue paint into the nostrils and face of a sow for over 30 seconds.
To learn more about the investigation, please watch the video above, view PETA U.S.' photo gallery, read the investigator's log notes, and visit PETA U.S.' blog.
By purchasing pigs bred and born on this farm and then grown elsewhere before being slaughtered for Hormel products, Hormel is financially supporting an operation whose employees abuse animals. And if you eat these products or hot dogs, ham, sausage, or bacon, then you, too, are supporting this suffering. Please stop eating pigs. Then take action against Hormel.
Please contact Hormel and demand that they follow PETA U.S.' eight-point policy to govern future pig-farming operations. The plan includes calling for the immediate termination and criminal prosecution of anyone who is caught abusing or neglecting animals. It also includes improvements to the company's animal welfare guidelines.
