The Extreme Cruelty of Confining Mother Pigs to “Gestation Crates”

Smithfield Foods gestation crates, Smithfield Foods/Murphy Brown pig breeding facility, Waverly, Virginia. Photo: Humane Society.

Pigs, intelligent and social creatures, possess a strong maternal instinct. In the wild, a pregnant pig will walk several miles to carefully select the perfect spot to build a nest for her newborns. A sow, or mother pig, is pregnant for almost four months before the arrival of her babies. Pregnancy can be an exciting and momentous time for humans as families...