12 Pieces of Photographic Evidence That Prove Easter Ham Comes From Hell

Each year millions of Americans eat ham on Easter. But how many actually think about where it comes from? Sadly, at today’s factory farms, piglets are routinely mutilated—their tails docked, their teeth clipped, their testicles ripped out—without painkillers, and mother pigs endure nearly a lifetime of extreme confinement in filthy metal crates. All pigs meet the same violent, bloody death.

Mercy For Animals has documented workers viciously beating pigs with shovels and metal rods and slamming piglets headfirst onto concrete floors (a standard practice called “thumping).

Like all animals raised for food, pigs endure hellish lives at factory farms from the moment they’re born until they’re brutally killed. These 12 stills from our undercover investigations prove it.

1. A piglet undergoing castration without painkillers


2. Pigs crammed in small metal cages without room to even turn around


3. Organs spilling out of a dead piglet left to rot


4. A piglet slammed headfirst against the concrete floor


5. A pig screaming in a pool of blood


6. A pig gnawing on bars as her only means of mental stimulation


7. A pig forced to sit in another’s blood while she awaits a similar fate


8. A piglet having her teeth ground down without any pain relief


9. A pig who froze to death while being transported to the slaughterhouse


10. A pig biting her metal cage out of frustration


11. Piglets covered in blood from having their tails sliced off


12. Pigs forced to watch their friends die


Pigs are considered one of the most intelligent animals in the world. They can play video games with more focus and success than chimps. Like all animals, pigs are sensitive and emotional. They feel fear, stress, and pain. One can only imagine the torment these animals endure day in and day out for the merciless meat industry.

It’s time to put our ethics on the table and stop eating pigs and all other animals. We can live our values of kindness by switching to a vegan diet. Click here to get started. And check out our Pinterest page for thousands of recipe ideas!