Graphic Undercover Footage Reveals Barbaric Mass Killings of U.S. Pigs Amid Pandemic
Investigators filmed Iowa’s biggest pork producer suffocating thousands of pigs in mass extermination.
Credit: DxE / The Intercept
With the Coronavirus pandemic creating bottlenecks within the US meat supply, farmers have been turning to increasingly cruel methods of disposing of their animals in mass exterminations. Newly-obtained undercover footage, along with whistleblower testimonies, now reveal the horrifying scale of such killings.
The footage, obtained by Direct Action Everywhere (DxE), was captured on farms owned by Iowa’s biggest pork producer, Iowa Select Farms.
Published by The Intercept, the video shows how thousands of pigs are suffocated to death over several hours, as the farm shuts off all airways to the barn, leaving the helpless pigs to suffocate and roast to death. Those that survive the ordeal are then killed the next morning by workers with bolt guns.
The industry refers to this incredibly cruel method of ‘depopulation’ as ‘VSD’ (‘ventilation shutdown’). A whistleblower described ‘VSD’ to The Intercept, saying:
“The first day they shut off all the fans and turned the heat up and the hottest they could get the building was 120 degrees. After four to five hours, none of the animals were dead. There was an attempt to induce steam into the building, along with the heat and the ventilation shutdown, and that is how they ultimately perfected their VSD operation. Every time they’ve been euthanizing the animals, it’s been a test in a sense.”
In Iowa alone, government officials estimate that some 700,000 pigs will be killed each week, amid the reduced demand for meat caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
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