Today, Mercy For Animals Canada is praising
the Retail Council of Canada and its member grocers for agreeing to phase out
inherently cruel gestation crates in their pork supply chains in favor of
“alternative housing practices.” Gestation crates, which prevent pregnant pigs
from turning around or laying down comfortably for nearly their entire lives,
have been widely condemned as one of the cruelest factory farming practices in
the world.
In December last year,
Mercy For Animals Canada released hidden-camera footage from an undercover
investigation at Puratone, a major pork supplier to Sobeys, Superstore/Loblaws, Metro, Walmart Canada, and other leading
food retailers in the country, showing thousands of pregnant pigs
crammed into filthy, metal gestation crates barely larger than their own
bodies. The shocking expose received national media attention and prompted over
40,000 Canadians to demand that the nation’s grocery retailers cut ties with
pork producers that use gestation crates.
Gestation
crates are so inhumane they have been banned by the entire European Union,
Australia, and New Zealand, as well as in nine US states. Recognizing their inherent cruelty, Canada’s top grocers, including Co-op
Atlantic, Canada Safeway, Costco Wholesale Canada, Federated Co-operatives
Limited, Superstore/Loblaws, Metro, Sobeys and Walmart Canada, are now requiring their pork suppliers
phase out these cruel crates.
As
stated by Twyla Francois, MFA Canada’s director of investigations, ““We praise
Canada’s top grocers for making the humane and socially responsible choice to
phase out inherently cruel gestation crates. We are pleased that retails have
finally listened to their ethically-minded customers and are taking action to
end the abusive practice of confining pigs in tiny metal crates so small they
cannot even turn around, walk, or lie down comfortably for nearly their entire
lives. We also urge Canada’s grocers to continue making meaningful progress on
farmed animal welfare issues by also committing to phase out inhumane and
restrictive battery cages for egg-laying hens and veal crates of baby calves.”
As MFA Canada works to expose and end the suffering of animals at the
hands of the meat, egg and dairy industries, consumers still hold the greatest
power of all to prevent the needless suffering of farmed animals by adopting a
healthy and humane vegetarian diet. Visit ChooseVeg.ca to
download free recipes and tips for making the transition to a vegetarian
lifestyle.
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