Fwd: ScienceDaily: Why Do Pigs Die During Commercial Transportation?

This came across my radar recently, sent by a friend:

Why Do Pigs Die During Commercial Transportation?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081210091035.htm
Scientists have evaluated the factors involved in causing injuries or even death in pigs as they are transported to the slaughter house. The results show that the stress and suffering the animals undergo would be reduced if more time was spent on loading them properly onto trucks and the temperature was kept down.

I used to think this was not a problem. I changed my mind about it. A friend pointed out to me the large amounts of endorphins and other chemicals the body pumps into the body when in a state of fear, worse in a state of terror. The meat is, in effect, tainted. Bad for
whomever eats that meat.

You might ask: "Wait? You are a dog, a weredog. Have you never hunted?" Yes, I have, as a man and as a dog, and as a weredog a few times. But when a pack or lone hunter stalks and kills an animal, such as a deer, the kill is quick, with no time for the body flush with fear chemicals. What this article describes is very long periods that the pigs are transported, the entire time in a high-state of fear. Pigs are intelligent animals, I assure you. Some say smarter than dogs. I don't agree with that. Dogs are second only to man in terms of intelligence. But, pigs possess enough awareness to be terrorized, unlike steers and chickens, which more experience
discomfort, but not impending doom.

Years ago I worked in a meat packing plant in Omaha. That plant processed mostly steers, but also pigs and sheep. I thought it would be fun, surrounded by all the meat. But, it was not. After weeks I fell to a melancholy, the result being within and part of assembly- line slaughter. I have no problem with killing and butchering hundreds of animals.  But the assembly-line approach of the Kill Floor, of bloody animal parts being shuffled through shiny, metal chutes had its toll on me. It affected me on a primal level.

So, I guess there is this moral issue: Is there such a thing as correct killing? Does an animal deserve to be dispatched as quickly as possible? If Kant was right, in regards to the categorical
imperative, then all animals do. In nature there are cases of animals playing with their prey. Usually, it is to train the young, pups or cubs, to hunt and kill. But, for the most part, predators do not dally when killing. They do it as quickly and efficiently as possible.  To do otherwise is wasteful and depraved.

I believe that hunting is more humane than ranching. The prey in the open has a chance. The steer in the pen has none. And the meat is better from the wild, or open range, animal which is hunted, or killed by some other means other than long transport and entry into a slaughter house.

All creatures must eat. We must kill to eat. But, even wolves, I am told, have rules and ethics about killing and eating.

Chester
chester.weredog@gmail.com