Footage Reveals “Inhumane Treatment” of Animals on Iowa Senator’s Pig Farm
The gruesome footage and photographs were gathered during an undercover investigation.
Evidence of animal neglect, inhumane treatment, and horrific conditions have been found on a pig farm owned by Iowa state senator, Ken Rozenboom, according to an animal rights group.
Gruesome footage and photographs gathered during an undercover investigation by the Californian-based group, Direct Action Everywhere (DxE), show severed animal limbs, dead and dying pigs, and pigs suffering from abscesses.
”Inside the barns, investigators documented months-old piglets suffering bloody rectal prolapses and intense overcrowding. They came across one piglet who was unable to stand, and gasped for air while thrashing wildly for several minutes, before eventually dying”, the group said in a statement.
DxE says it targeted Rozenboom because he is a “leading supporter” of Iowa’s new but contested “ag-gag” law, which makes it a crime for journalists and animal welfare activists to go undercover and document conditions on farms and meatpacking plants.
"He’s the epitome of the problem here," said Matt Johnson, an Iowan who led DxE’s research. "He's trying to grow and expand factory farming while shielding it from transparency."
In response to the suffering filmed at Rozenboom’s farm, the group filed complaints with the sheriff’s office, county attorney and the state’s agriculture department. However, despite the footage, an investigation into the hog farm has found no evidence of animal abuse.
DxE says this footage shows “the brutal toll of animal agriculture”.
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