Today, Monday June 27^th, 2013, members of Guelph Pig Save held their 8th vigil in front of Conestoga Meat Packers, located at 313 Menno Street in Breslau, ON. Demonstrators observed and documented the slaughter of hundreds of pigs from 9:30am to 11:30am. 

Conestoga Meat Packers is located in a remote area between Guelph and Kitchener. Guelph Pig Save documents the slaughter to highlight the true cost of consuming meat.

Live transport trucks arrived at the factory throughout the demonstration where they back up to an unloading bay and workers use cattle prods to electrocute and shock the pigs, forcing them into a building where a gas chamber awaits them.  The pigs are then killed (hundreds at a time) with carbon monoxide gas.  The gas is supposed to knock them out quickly but their screams can be heard for 5-10 minutes which suggests that this method of killing causes the animals’ extreme suffering as they suffocate to death.  It is evident that pigs awaiting slaughter in trucks next to the gas chamber understand what is happening and become frightened because they start screaming and making shrill cries the minute they hear their comrades start to cry out.

Pigs in these trucks are stacked four rows high and are covered in feces by the time they arrive.  Several “downed” animals were also observed by activists.

Activists slowed several of the trucks down to feed the pig’s one last meal (of carrots) before their untimely deaths.  Pigs are more often than not fed unnatural diets (including cannibalism) and may have never eaten a carrot or anything resembling natural food.

Conestoga Meat Packers is a co-op where pigs from large hog operations to small family farms are killed factory-farm style.  Many people are concerned about animal wellbeing and this trend towards eating “humane-meat” needs to be exposed for what it is: cruel.  Whether you buy meat locally or from a small family run farm, the animals are often sent to huge slaughter operations where they suffer physically and psychologically.

Guelph Pig Save will also be holding demonstrations at upcoming Ribfests in the area to raise awareness about animal cruelty and create a link between animals and our dinner plates.  Strangely many Ribfests are set up to raise money for cancer research but promoting the consumption of red meat may be counter-intuitive, as meat based diets have been linked to various forms of cancer.

For more information, please see:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Guelph-Pig-Save/319261858174156 or

www.guelphpigsave.webs.com