I left last night at around 1 in the morning to drive to Wallace, North Carolina. The last thing I saw before leaving was my three happy girls laying together so cozy and content. But, the pigs in Wallace are not so happy. They are laying in their own filth. Their bodies are broken from a few years of abuse and torment. They had baby after baby. Their bodies weakened and atrophied from not being able to move, walk or stretch. Confined to small stalls where they could merely lay next to their babies for a few short weeks before they were taken away only to have the process started over again (and this is standard practice for nearly all pigs used for food production).
And when they were no longer as useful to their tormentors, they were taken to this holding pen where the pictured pig was pictured looking terrified. Many sit for up to a week without food or water. Some die before they are taken to slaughter. All suffer. And why? So that humans can eat something for a taste they crave. 
But, how do we justify treating these living beings as mere objects? They share so much in common with us. They desire to live, be free, and care for their young. It becomes far more disturbing when you realize the question is not what you will eat, but rather 'WHO' you ate. Enlighten others to the reality that we have a choice every day to cause suffering or not. Choose to eat something, not someone.
And you can help us get some of these pigs to a real sanctuary to help spread their story so that someday no pig will suffer this fate! 
Visit here to help make that a reality https://www.facebook.com/donate/235422460548494/

​Tesla the rabbit came to visit her unsuspecting mini pig sister Millie. But, Millie was ready to pounce.  Disclaimer:  No rabbits were harmed in the making of this video.  She didn't even seem startled.  

Charlotte, Millie, and Pumpkin love listening to Katie Herzig in the car as we go out to do our grazing/activism.  So, we made this tribute video to one of our new favorite songs 'Beat of Your Own."  Be sure to check out Katie Herzig and her music!  

​Happy Mother's Day to Mothers of all species! I know and see daily that Pumpkin's love of her daughters Charlotte and Millie is every bit as real and strong as a human mother.

​I was outside with all three pigs today and Charlotte was getting a little hot from the sun and started rooting in a place that wasn't ideal (we share our yard with everyone else in our condo complex).  So, I went to move her to a place where it would be okay and picked her up in a way that she isn't used to being carried.  Instantly she started belting out her scared cry.  Usually this is reserved for terrifying things like little bunnies jumping on her while she's sleeping.  But, today she was just not ready to be picked up and I didn't have her in the usual hold that makes her feel secure.  But, this isn't the interesting part.  What happened next is what both impressed me and made me realize yet again that pig families are very closely bonded.  

As Charlotte let out her cry, instantly, Millie and Pumpkin abandoned their grass munching and charged towards the sound.  Little Millie was making the deepest grunts she could.  I imagine she was yelling, "Let go of my sister or you shall feel my wrath!"  She may be small, but she sounded like a 300 pound pig charging to the defense of her sister.  And Pumpkin did the same.  They looked like pig warriors charging to battle.  Both immediately checked Charlotte out with their snouts as I put her back down.  Satisfied that all was well, they went back to eating grass.  But, it was clear that as much as they love food, they cared more about making sure their family was safe.

Far too often humans assume that we are the only species that has such strong family bonds.  We believe that somehow we alone evolved this ability to form such close relationship with others.  But, I'm daily shown how far from true this is.  Both in the relationship I have with our pigs and the relationship our pigs have with each other.  And this is just another reminded that this Mother's Day, we ought to think of the mother animals out there on farms who have their beloved family members and children taken from them over and over again.  And we also should think about the mother animals separated from their young so that their children can be sold off to humans as pets (please adopt, don't shop!).  And hopefully someday soon, we will stop treating animals like objects and all mothers will enjoy a truly happy Mother's Day.

​Yes, it is a provocative title.  And some will try to argue that it is insensitive or worse to use this comparison for the intended purpose of this post.  But, hopefully without hesitation, those of us not associating ourselves with hate based groups like neo-nazis or the KKK will agree that naming a Jewish child anything hinting at the Holocaust would be awful.  And further, we'd agree that there was nothing humorous about this type of 'joke'.  I only start with an example related to humans because unfortunately in our speciesist world, we struggle to understand the injustice created through applying different standards towards animals than towards humans in situations where it is unjustified.  Further, we also neglect the feelings of humans that are not (or attempting not to be) speciesist, through our prejudicial words and actions.  And words do have power and can lead us to do things that we might otherwise not have done simply because the language we use suggests it is okay.

As someone that is almost always walking one of my beloved companion pigs (who I view as my children), I frequently run into people that think naming pigs things that are plays on words related to the abuse and torment heaped upon animals in the world of animal agriculture.  There is no shortage of people that ask if my pigs are named Chris P. Bacon.  And, I try to start by asking them why they would ask that.  And I do my best to not seem offended so that they can answer honestly.  Almost always, people respond that it would be a funny name.  So, I usually ask what part of making a pig into bacon is funny?  Is it the raping of a mother pig by violating her sex organ while a farmer often tries to sexually stimulate her in other ways to encourage conception?  It is the part where they take her babies away from her and then cut or shock her to go back and be raped again?  Or is it the part where her children spend 6 months in a shed unable to do anything but wait to die.  Yes, the fourth most intelligent animal, stuck in a shed with no stimulation but chewing on metal bars as they suffer mental torment and anguish prior to seeing the sun for the first time as they head to have their throats slit or be killed in a gas chamber (reminiscent of the Jewish Holocaust).   ​

Some of these people do make the connection and realize that naming a pig after the atrocity committed against them isn't so funny.  Others get angry, likely the result of feeling guilty about their role in the suffering they know pigs are going through and disliking being called out for trying to find humor in it.  But, people need to be called out for their prejudices.  Saying that the pig doesn't understand is not a justification.  It ignores the impact their words have on those that love their pigs.  And the way it suggests that there is human to be found in animal abuse. 

But, it doesn't take much thought to realize that naming a pig Hammy, Hamlet, Kevin Bacon, and other plays on words related to the abuse pigs suffer is cruel and disgusting.  And it teaches other adults and children to view even beloved pets as a promotion of the results of the violent business of animal agriculture.  And asking someone with a pig if they've named their beloved companion one of these things is extremely insensitive to that person.  My Pumpkin, Charlotte and Millie are not just raw materials in the production of food.  They are living sentient beings that want to live.  They love their children just as much as humans do.  They communicate in their own pig language.  They dream.  They learn from the past and plan for the future.  They deserve to be treated with respect and kindness.  And there is absolutely nothing funny about joking that they are merely food items or a crude joke related to some food. ​

So, even if you think that because the pigs won't know what your words mean when you call them Bacon or Hammy or whatever… it doesn't mean your words are without power.  They will impact those around you and continue to support the idea that pigs are merely objects for us to use.  Just as naming a Jewish child Gas E. Chambers would both make light of the serious and horrible nature of the Holocaust, it would also encourage those around you to think that somehow the Holocaust was not so bad that it couldn't be joked about.  The same things is true of pigs.  You can decide if you want to support and endorse one of the cruelest practices mankind has ever perpetuated against innocent victims or you can think about the power of your words.  
(*And for people looking to be offended and wanting to make outrageous claims without thinking about why they are really mad, let me clarify I am in no way trying to compare the pain and suffering of the victims of the human Holocaust with the animals suffering under the terror of animal agriculture.  One cannot deny the similarities in how both groups aare/were treated by the oppressors and the justifications used.  But, I can't compare one human's suffering to another human's.  Suffering is not something that can be compared as it is a very individual thing.)

Pumpkin, Charlotte, Rousseau (my human daughter),Tesla (the bunny) and I just got back from our week long trip to New York state as we traveled with the documentary The Last Pig by Allison Argo.  I will have an update soon, but the girls are glad to be back together.  Millie was happy to see her mom and sister.