'Welfarists' pressure supermarkets

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Using videos secretly taken inside pig barns to generate public outrage over the treatment of livestock isn't new. But Associated Press says Mercy For Animals' tactic of taking an outrageous video to stores supplied by a particular farm is.

According to a story published in the Washington Post in June, Mercy For Animals, an animal welfare group based in Chicago, provided Costco, Hy-Vee, Kroger and Safeway, purchasers of pork produced by Iowa Select Farms, with links to a two-and-a-half-minute video depicting alleged animal abuse in the farms' barns before releasing the video at press conferences across the country. By then, the stores had "either halted purchases from the targeted Iowa farm or expressed concern," to its pork supplier, the story said. Iowa Select was described as among the nation's largest hog suppliers.

In the story, the farm's director of external affairs, veterinarian Howard Hill, described the video as "staged." Matt Rice, Mercy For Animals' director of operations, said Hill's claim was "ridiculous" and "absolutely untrue." BP