A couple of days ago, we ran an article about how a bunch of vegans had stormed a farm to cuddle some piglets, but had accidentally killed a couple of them in their eagerness to get in there, but we’ve had an angry message today from one of the vegans who was actually there saying that this didn’t happen whatsoever.
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I’m not 100% sure which version of events is true, but in the interest of fairness I’m gonna recount the vegan version here as well. The farm’s co-owner Sylvia Hook had told multiple new outlets that the vegans had crushed the piglets to death, but this is what event organiser Wesley Omar said about it all:
She was told by one of the activists who is a vet nurse that the piglet was limping and needed veterinary care. Hook was heard saying ‘pick ‘it’ up then’, and was filmed taking the animal outside, holding him/her by the ankle and swinging him/her round.
I understand why the farmer would be emotional and aggressive towards us, I understand why she might feel angry.
This is probably the first time that she has ever had her moral reasoning questioned, and the first time that her practices and the way she produces an income have been challenged.
For me, the most confounding event from the day was not the sheer disdain Sylvia Hook showed towards the pigs. She called them ‘it’, and held a weeks-old piglet upside down by his/her ankles, while the piglet was squalling. She also turned off the water supply to the pigs. But more surprising to me were the disingenuous claims she shared with the media and public.
Not only are these pigs being violated in my opinion, but Hook has attempted to manipulate the integrity of the public with these claims, despite footage showing what actually happened. I feel it is important to raise these points as a counterpoint to reports in the popular media.
That’s pretty different to what Sylvia claimed went down hey? Here’s a couple of videos that the activists claim show the evidence of the piglets already being hurt and abused by the farmers as well:
MEAT THE VICTIMS RELEASE STATEMENT AND VIDEO EVIDENCE IN RESPONSE TO CLAIMS ACTIVISTS RESULTED IN THE DEATH OF PIGLETS
In a number of recent media articles the owner of Sandilands Pigs has claimed that activists had caused the death of two piglets found inside the sheds due to activists stressing the animals.
The team have released the following video that clearly shows one of the dead piglets covered in flies and with clear evidence that it had died way before activists entered the building, as well as further evidence of dead piglets found outside the property and video showing the animals were calm on entry.
Activist Elliot Gold who filmed the piglet video stated:
“One of the activists inside witnessed the female farm owner state to the police that no piglet has ever died at this farm or in her care. There were at least 4 piglets with meningitis still in pens with others (the word men/meno was also chalked on the wall opposite the stalls) also two were found dead and at least one for approx 12 hours due to body condition. They had a severely bloated stomach with blue discolouration and also a prolapsed anus that babies were chewing on. Adding to this several dead piglets were found tossed into a faeces/mud pile on the outside how can we take anything this farmer takes seriously when there is proof of the fact obv has had many deaths on her farm.”
Activist Tash May, also of the inside team, said about the situation:
“after all of the activists had entered and spread out along the three sheds of the facility, a couple of people from the centre aisle noticed a piglet lying completely still, away from his/her mother. The activists at the end of the stall were able to view the piglet much more clearly. Rigor mortis had set in and the piglet was stone cold, which indicates that the death had not been recent. There were also many flies around and on the piglet.
The farm owner was notified and the piglet was removed from the stall and taken away. There were claims that the cause of the piglets death was down to the activists presence, however there was minimal noise in that part of the shed and the fact that the body was bloated, cold and stiff was a clear indicator that this baby had passed away well before activists entry to the shed.
The piglet was also well away from the sow, meaning there was no way that the mother had become excitable and crushed them- which was the claim made by the farm owner.”
Activist and media rep for the event, Chris Hines, stated in an interview with Lincoln Live…
“Unless you can show definitive evidence that piglets have died because of activists being in there then they haven’t got much of a case. The scenes I’ve witnessed in there everyone is calm, the pigs are calm, there’s no big commotion. It’s a baseless claim unless she can prove otherwise.”
Posted by Virtue on Monday, 4 March 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTtd_NS9-Q4&t=1s&fbclid=IwAR1yOAKRJHoj-3qSqkryjk4QRpkGmZJZx_OK7UtqgIyo4CEo3Mxldy4Lg3I
I mean yeah, for once there it seems like the vegan response is actually really well measured and considered and not at all emotional, definitely compared with some of the things that they have been known to come out with in the past. Actually gets me to thinking that Hook might actually be lying about everything, especially when it’s compounded by the video evidence.
What an absolute scummer. Not sure if it’s enough to get me to join the vegan revolution, but it’s definitely food for thought.
For more of the same, check out this story about a girl waiting two hours to receive the worst vegan meal of all time. Honestly, a disgrace.
