Horror on Manitoba pig farm

On Friday June 18, 2010, the Manitoba RCMP received a call about a case of neglected pigs. According to the news articles what the officers found was horrific.

Upon entering the farm, the officers found 500 pigs dead from starvation and neglect. Of the pigs that were still alive, reports of an additional 160 (actually 1600) had to be euthanized because they were in such bad shape and a further 2000 were removed from the property.

Despite the terribly cruelty and the enormous number of pigs who were left to suffer and die, the media coverage has been limited and comments by politician absent.

We are deeply concerned that this incident will be ignored by the politicians and law enforcement officers, or worse, be swept under the rug. We cannot allow this to happen.

So we need your help. We need the Government of Manitoba to investigate and lay charges against the individual who neglected these animals. Those who perpetrate cruelty to animals must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, or the neglect of these pigs will go unpunished.

Please click here to download and send sign-on letters, the first to Dr. Wayne Lees, Chief Veterinary Officer and the second to the Honourable Andrew Swan, Minister of Justice and Attorney General.

Please sign both letters and mail them to the appropriate person. Let us make sure that the Manitoba government seeks justice for these poor neglected animals.

Thank you for your help!

Liz White

Barn Fire horrors continue

Since a coalition of groups began working on this issue over two years ago, little movement has been made by the federal government. We continue to demand that modifications be made to new and existing barns to protect humans and non-humans alike. With hundreds of thousands of animals dying horrifying deaths, it speaks volumes about our government's ethics and humanity.

All you have to do is visit Laurie Loveman's website on Fire Safety in Barns, and you'll get an idea about how pressing an issue this is in Canada. She keeps an extensive 'Fire Log' on fires throughout North America. Some other interesting resources are below.

Please contact your MP and MPP today and demand progressive, humane regulations.

For more information, visit the Canadian Coalition for Farm Animals.

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From the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs:

Barn Fires - An Increasing Problem for Ontario Farmers: Questions and Answers to Barn Fires and Fires in Large Farm Structures

A recent headline: Manitoba barn fires kill 7500 pigs

Another headline: Fires in factory farms are taking a heavy toll

Sable Island Seals Under Fire

We have been working with the Atlantic Canadian Anti-Sealing Coalition for some time now. The fight now is to save the seals on Sable Island, Canada's newest National Park.

The excerpt below is from the Coalition's website:

Just days after the government announced Sable Island is to be designated a national park, the government's macabre plans for the island have been revealed. The Coast newspaper obtained through an Access to Information request a document entitled 'Logistical Evaluation of Options to Manage the Grey Seal
Population on Sable Island.' Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans commissioned engineering firm CBCL to research and prepare a report setting out different scenarios for reducing the grey seal population on Sable Island. One of the options involves injecting 16,000 adult females with a form of contraceptive for five years. The other option involves a nightmare scenario of slaughtering 220,000 adults and pups period over a period of five years during their whelping (birthing, nursing and mating), slinging their carcasses using modified heavy loaders, and disposing of their bodies using modified wood chippers and portable incinerators set up on the island. One option details killing 100,000 adults and pups in 25 days in the first year, with 30,000 being slaughtered each year for the next four years. The report advises that any nursing whitecoats orphaned when their mothers are culled are to be killed immediately or they will starve to death. There will be MANY pups orphaned when their mothers are culled so it is inevitable that MANY whitecoats will be slaughtered during these so-called 'culls.'

For more information and to find out how you can help, please visit http://www.antisealingcoalition.ca/