About 6 million pigs are treated violently every year in Taiwan before their arrival at slaughterhouses, animal rights groups said yesterday, urging the Ministry of Agriculture to establish a pork grading system to replace “inhumane” live pig auctions.
While in Japan, South Korea and most Western countries pigs are transported from hog farms directly to nearby slaughterhouses, in Taiwan they travel long distances from farms to auction houses and then to slaughterhouses, Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan deputy chief executive officer Chen Yu-min (陳玉敏) said.
Pigs are forced to walk through narrow passages at auction houses to be inspected by bidders, but they often slip on steel plates and bump their snouts, Chen said.
Photo: CNA
At least 25 to 30 pigs collapse due to porcine stress syndrome (PSS) at auction houses every day, she said.
Auction house staff also force them to move by hitting them with metal rods or batons, dragging them by placing iron hooks in their upper jaw or anus, or kicking them, and tattoo them to mark transaction information, she said.
New Taipei City has the largest auction volume in the nation, she said.
Given that most hog farms are in southern Taiwan, live pigs travel up to 230km from Yunlin County — the largest pork farming area — to be auctioned in northern Taiwan, with trucks often providing no shade, she said.
As they are exposed to extreme temperatures in summer and winter, many pigs die from heatstroke or PSS during the journey, Chen said, adding that it is not uncommon that a pig falls out of a truck and lies on a freeway.
Pigs are also forced to fast for at least 24 hours before their journey to prevent them from throwing up, she said.
The ministry’s data on transportation insurance claims show that about 10,000 pigs die during transportation every year, she said.
Systemic violence against pigs not only increases public health risks but also harms animal welfare in contravention of articles 6 and 10 of the Animal Protection Act (動物保護法), she said, calling for a systemic reform by the ministry.
The ministry should end the “barbaric” live animal auction system and establish a carcass grading mechanism jointly with local governments to provide objective, transparent ratings and prices for buyers to make transactions based on carcass quality data, such as fat-to-lean meat ratio and muscle quality, Chen said.
The live animal auction system stands for “high carbon emissions, low efficiency,” Sustainable Healthy Diets Research Institute spokeswoman Chang Chia-pei (張家珮) said, citing UN data as showing that 8 to 10 percent of global carbon emissions result from such production and transportation of commercial animals.
The ministry should propose the timeline of replacing live pig auctions with a carcass grading system to fulfill its environmental responsibilities, Chang said.
The ministry has received the petition and would properly handle the issue, Department of Animal Industry official Chen Yi-tzu (陳宜孜) said.
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