Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Thursday 2 augusT 2018

Video of abuse at pig farm also highlights common practices

By COLLEEN SLEVIN ing among hierarchical
Associated Press sows and protect workers
DENVER (AP) — Recent- from the pregnant animals,
ly released undercover which can weigh between
video showing pigs being 350 and 450 pounds (160
kicked, hit and punched at and 200 kilograms), said
a Kentucky supplier for the Sarah Crawford, assistant
world's largest meat pro- vice president of animal
ducer drew prompt con- welfare for the National
demnation from animal Pork Board in Des Moines,
rights groups and the agri- Iowa. She said the stalls
cultural industry alike. are long enough for the
However, the images sand- animals to lie in, and re-
wiched in between — adult search has shown some will
pigs in cages barely bigger choose a stall over living in
than their bodies and a pig- a group.
let squealing while being "The good thing is farmers
castrated — show still wide- have the choice to decide
ly accepted industry prac- This frame grab from a video provided by Mercy for Animals shows a pig in an undercover video what fits best for their farm,"
tices, but were aimed at released by the group. she said.
pressuring Brazilian-based Associated Press Temple Grandin, an ani-
JBS to abandon them.Ten range egg options in stores, based Mercy for Animals, ers Council. mal science professor at
states — none major pork how pigs are raised is not a backer of the California However, even most of Colorado State University
producers — have passed something frequently tout- proposal. It said it would those farms still use gesta- and consultant on livestock
laws that ban or phase ed on bacon or sausage investigate the incident at tion stalls when sows are treatment, said confined
out the use of those nar- packages. the farm operated by Ten- artificially inseminated, pregnant pigs lack the
row metal cages, known Still, activists have made an nessee-based Tosh Farms. and some use them to test space to turn around, and
as gestation crates or stalls, impact with their gradual, "Animal welfare is a priority whether the sows are preg- compared the experience
where sows are confined state-by-state approach for our company and our nant, council spokesman to humans having to spend
during their frequent preg- of passing ballot measures customers," JBS USA said in David Warner said. State their lives in an airline seat.
nancies. and bills to outlaw crates, a statement at the time. bans, like Colorado's, typi- Grandin, who has worked
Among them is Califor- and by gathering pledges "We will ensure that all of cally include exceptions for JBS in the past, said
nia, where voters agreed from more than 100 large our suppliers adhere to our for testing, treatment or re- crates should be phased
to phase out the crates restaurant and food com- high standards for animal search. out and has seen group
along with chicken cages panies including McDon- care."An estimated 75 per- After sows give birth, farms housing for pigs working
and veal crates starting in ald's, Chipotle and Target, cent of U.S. pig farms regu- that use confinement usu- well. She also said the way
2015. This fall, voters will be to move away from sup- larly use gestation stalls. The ally put them in slightly larg- male piglets are castrated
asked to go further and pliers that use gestation rest are owned by compa- er farrowing stalls, which done in their first week to
ban the sale of pork from crates. Some meat pro- nies that pledged to cut give them enough room prevent aggression and
pigs confined to the crates, ducers have also pledged stall use or are in states that to lie down and nurse their variations in meat flavor
along with pork from their to phase them out. ban it, and mostly use open piglets. could change too because
offspring. The measure also The world's largest pork pens instead, according to Gestation stalls are in- of new research into pain
would bar the sale of veal producer, Smithfield Foods, the National Pork Produc- tended to minimize fight- medication for livestock.q
from crated calves and announced in January
eggs from caged chickens. it had switched to open Scientists: 1st sighting of dolphin hybrid
Massachusetts voters group housing for pregnant
passed a similar ban in 2016 pigs at its company-owned is no 'wholphin'
that takes effect in 2022. U.S. farms. JBS has said it
Sows account for only plans to transition to collec- By JENNIFER SINCO KELLE- it a wholphin just confuses dren about genetics.
about 6 percent of the pigs tive rather than individual HER the situation more than it News of the hybrid spotted
on American farms, but crates by 2025. In January, Associated Press already is." in the wild last year during
pork producers have been it said 45 percent of its sup- HONOLULU (AP) — Scientists In a study published last Navy-funded research on
slow to give up confine- pliers have already made are touting the first sight- week, scientists say the ani- the effects of sonar proves
ment, said Josh Balk, vice the switch. ing of a hybrid between a mal spotted off the island the "genetic diversity of the
president of farm animal JBS' U.S. branch, based in melon-headed whale and of Kauai in August 2017 ap- ocean," Sea Life Park cura-
protection for The Humane Greeley, suspended ship- a rough-toothed dolphin in pears to be the first record tor Jeff Pawloski said.
Society of the United States. ments from the Franklin, the ocean off Hawaii. But of a hybrid involving either "I always thought they were
While shoppers are famil- Kentucky, farm after the don't call it a "wholphin," species. It's also only the out there in the wild exist-
iar with the bewildering ar- video was released earlier they say. third confirmed instance ing it only makes sense,"
ray of cage-free and free- this month by Los Angeles- The melon-headed whale of a wild-born hybrid be- he said. "And to know she
is one of the various species tween species in the Del- has cousins out there in the
that's called a whale but is phinidae family. ocean is an amazing thing
technically a dolphin. The label "wholphin" has to know."Some news orga-
"Calling it something like stuck for a hybrid of a false nizations have described
a wholphin doesn't make killer whale and an Atlantic the melon-headed whale
any sense," said one of the bottle-nose dolphin born and rough-toothed dolphin
study's authors, Robin Baird, in 1985 at Hawaii's Sea Life hybrid as a new species,
a Hawaii research biolo- Park. The hybrid named but other things would still
gist with Washington state- Kekaimalu still lives at the need to occur, including
based Cascadia Research marine mammal park, more widespread hybrid-
Collective. "I think calling where she helps teach chil- ization, Baird said.q