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Behind the smiles on the packaging

Horrifying practices for pigs

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BESA reveals the daily lives of pigs raised in Quebec

Far from the idyllic images of advertisements and packaging, our images show once again that the law does not sufficiently protect farm animals in Quebec.

 

Our investigation features images taken by whistleblowers at a pig maternity hospital in the Montérégie region of Quebec. We see nameless horrors, all symptoms of a system that treats animals like objects:

  • Mothers locked in cages so narrow they can’t even turn around

  • Many little pigs dying, sick, wounded or dead by their side

  • Piglets isolated and left to fend for themselves

  • Castrations without anesthesia or analgesia, sometimes botched and “repaired” with adhesive tape

  • Little pigs’ tails cut off without anaesthetic or analgesia to prevent them from biting them out of boredom

The industry has defended itself in the past by saying that such conditions are “not accepted by the industry”. But these images are similar to two other Quebec pig farm investigations released in 2019 and in 2023. Meanwhile, Quebec’s pork industry is putting off abandoning the use of cages in maternity wards, and not questioning large farms. Quebec law is also very vague on what is legal and what is not when it comes to farm animals (see our petition on the subject).

If what we’re seeing is legal, how is it that these practices are accepted in Quebec when they run totally counter to the values of Quebecers?

 

And if what we’re seeing is illegal, why aren’t the authorities, such as the Ministry of Agriculture (MAPAQ), aware of these practices following their inspections? Why is it necessary to have such images from whistleblowers for justice to act for animals in our province?

Locked in cages

Mother pigs are constantly locked in cages so small they can't even turn around.

Wounded mothers

Sows frequently show wounds, sometimes infected. They'll be sent to the slaughterhouse quickly, whatever happens.

Agonizing little pigs

Piglets spend the early part of their lives with their mothers, in cages above a swamp of excrements.

Failed castrations

The piglets are castrated without anesthetic or analgesia. Sometimes, the operation is poorly done: tape is used to keep their organs inside their bodies.

More and more animals

To meet demand, farms are expanding. They are now huge sheds filled with animals. Who has time to take care of all of them ?

To the slaughterhouse

The final fate of all these animals after such a terrifying life: a long, arduous truck journey to the slaughterhouse.

In the face of horror, action

1. Share and inform

Why do these practices continue to exist? Because we don’t even know they exist!

 

To us in the general public, we’re only shown what the industry wants us to see: drawings of smiling pigs (happy to have been killed for us?), idyllic images of meadows and pastures, etc.

 

That’s why these hard-to-see images are so precious: they show us the harsh reality, but they also give us the opportunity to help the animals.

If you’d like to be kept informed, share our investigation on your social networks!

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2. ASK OUR POLITICIANS TO ACT

To change the system, the government must intervene.

 

This investigation, which is far from being the first on the subject of pigs in Quebec, shows that current laws are not sufficient to protect animals.

To join us in demanding rapid changes to Quebec laws so that animals are properly protected, sign our petition!

Sign our petition

3. HELPING THE TRANSITION

In a system that always wants to produce more meat, animals (and people) will always be the losers.

 

The practices shown in our survey are not the results of an exception, or a “bad farm”; they are the results of decades of intensification of animal agriculture in Quebec, which forces breeders to always produce more, and for less.

 

Currently, over 7 million pigs are killed every year in Quebec (almost the same number of humans living in Quebec) to satisfy demand. Combined with other forms of livestock farming, animal agriculture ultimately uses the vast majority of Quebec’s farmland.

 

If we are to care for the animals in our province, we need to transition to a system where fewer animals are killed, and where the price of products truly represents our beliefs and values about their welfare.

To help us bring about this transition, you can support our work, or discover environmentally friendly plant-based alternatives!

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