Exposing inhumane conditions at factory farms

Brut America

He risked jail time for exposing how pigs were roasted alive on a factory farm. Here's how this animal activist uncovered the story ...

Transcript

00:00Over a series of hours, these animals are screaming for their lives and just being essentially roasted alive.

00:07What we saw happen in there is not in alignment with the law.

00:11It's not in alignment even with industry's own standard.

00:21I faced up to eight years in prison and this prosecution dragged on for almost two years.

00:30The law is a fiasco.

00:32It's a fiasco that's been going on for decades.

00:34It's a fiasco that's been going on for decades.

00:36It's a fiasco that's been going on for decades.

00:38It's a fiasco that's been going on for decades.

00:40It's a fiasco that's been going on for decades.

00:42We have this truck driver who worked for this factory farming company reaching out to animal rights activists,

00:48the last people in the world you'd think he'd be working alongside,

00:51but saying that his conscience just could not bear just standing by

00:56when he sees the way these pigs are treated on a regular basis.

01:00The law is a fiasco.

01:02It's a fiasco that's been going on for decades.

01:04It's a fiasco that's been going on for decades.

01:06It's a fiasco that's been going on for decades.

01:08You're not able to send the pigs to the slaughterhouse on schedule.

01:10They did what was the best thing for their bottom line at that time,

01:13and that was to get rid of those pigs the cheapest, quickest, easiest way possible.

01:19And what they did is this mass killing technique known as ventilation shutdown.

01:23They're going to roast the pigs alive in this sauna.

01:30Sound of pig screaming

01:39Thousands of pigs are crammed into these industrial sheds where the ventilation ducts are sealed up tight

01:47and then heat and boiling hot water and steam are pumped in.

01:52We were able to capture this process and it got a lot of media attention

01:58and it just blew people's minds to fathom that something like this was even possible.

02:04Music

02:27We saw Gilly who was suffering and obviously had an infection.

02:33She was very hot and seemed to have a fever.

02:36And we knew that if we didn't help her right then, she was not going to be helped.

02:40And so we were able to remove her.

02:42Music

02:54Well they just so happened to end it over the past few weeks

02:58right when our pressure campaign happened, right when the expose happened.

03:02Of course they said the pressure campaign from DirectX never had nothing to do with it.

03:06Music

03:17Ag-gag laws are this broad category of legislation which seek to stifle or gag

03:25the exposure of what's happening in animal agricultural facilities.

03:30It ended up being consolidated into what would have been two trials.

03:34And last year, January of 2021, was supposed to be my trial in relation to

03:42the specifically recording of the ventilation shutdown.

03:45At the last minute, those charges were dropped.

03:48And then fast forward a year, we have my other trial which is in relation to

03:53this other Iowa Select Farms facility that we also investigated

03:57where I rescued this dying baby piglet.

04:01Music

04:05Iowa Select Farms, you know, made the decision that moving forward with this trial

04:10is not in their interest, so no trial happened.

04:13Even dismissing charges is a big deal.

04:16And it normalizes the idea that this is not a crime to help animals.

04:23It's not a crime to expose horrifying abuse any more than it is when there's a dog in a hot car, for example.

04:31If you break the window of a hot car where a dog is dying inside,

04:34when you have something that is so horrifying that's happening

04:39and you have a system which is so powerful with so much money and such entrenched political ties,

04:49it can feel hopeless, but it really can be remarkable what ordinary people can do

04:55if you are passionate and you come together and you take collective action.

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