Iowa's largest pork producer is killing thousands of pigs, according to a whistleblower report and visuals captured by a hidden camera. The video shows the horrific mass-extermination method used by the producer. The cull apparently happened as the market was oversupplied due to the coronavirus pandemic, as per an investigation.
The 8th largest pork producer in the US, Iowa Select Farms, exterminated a whole farm of pigs using "ventilation shutdown." This is done by shutting off the airways to the swine, even as hot steam is pumped into the barns overnight, an Intercept report revealed.
The hidden camera footage of this euthanizing method showed the cries of pigs as they succumbed to death as the heat rose to 120 degrees. The video further showed that some of these animals survived as they were surrounded by huge piles of pig corpses. Workers killed the living leftover pigs with stun bolt gun, and the corpses would be carried away by bulldozers.
Execution Started in Late April
The whistleblower witnessing this ordeal said the company had turned off the ventilation fans, and heated the building. "That's what the plan is. It's horrific as it is," he told the outlet. "They've been euthanizing the animals, it's been a test in a sense. Piglets were killed off in a barn with gas generators," he added.
The farm started using this pig execution method in late April in order to "depopulate" pigs as the COVID-19 pandemic caused their meat processing plant to shut down, as reported in this investigation with animal rights group called Direct Action Everywhere.
Torturous Experiments
The whistleblower further said that the City-based pork farm conducted other torturous experiments before this operation.
The first day, none of the animals died even though they shut off the fans and heated up the building to its maximum capacity, 120 degrees. After this, they attempted to induce steam into the building, along with the heat and the ventilation shutdown. This method made it complete, "and that is how they ultimately perfected their VSD operation," the whistleblower said.
An inefficient meat industry has been torturing animals even in good times, said animal rights activists as they opposed euthanization. Iowa Select, which owns the farm, did not respond to requests for comment from the outlet.
