If for some reason you can't get into the Times via the link, let me know. ~ njs

March 14, 2007
Op-Ed Contributor
Pig Out 
By NICOLETTE HAHN NIMAN
BOLINAS, Calif.

WITH some fanfare, the world's largest pork producer, Smithfield Foods, recently announced that it intended to phase out certain cages for its breeding females. Called gestation crates, the cages virtually immobilize pigs during their pregnancies in metal stalls so narrow they are unable to turn around. 

Numerous studies have documented crated sows exhibiting behavior characteristic of humans with severe depression and mental illness. Getting rid of gestation crates (already on their way out in the European Union) is welcome and long overdue, but more action is needed to end inhumane conditions at America's hog farms.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/opinion/14niman.html?_r=1&oref=slogin<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/opinion/14niman.html?_r=1&oref=slogin>





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