By Pepper Parr
October 14th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
There is quite a bit more to the story of the roll-over of that tractor trailer on Wednesday carrying 180 pigs to the Fearmans slaughterhouse.
It took Burlington 35 years to create a memorial to Terry Fox’s remarkable attempt to run from coast to coast raising funds for cancer. He died of cancer before he could complete the run.
PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) the largest animal rights organization in the world, with more than 5 million members and supporters has asked the City of Burlington to erect a 1.5 metre “tombstone memorial” at the intersection of Appleby Line and Harvester Road. City spokesperson Donna Kell has said it would get back to PETA in a couple of days.
Fire fighters, police officers and Fearmans staff do as much as they can to get the pigs out of the trailer; 42 to 48 of the pigs are reported to have been killed in the accident. It is not clear if any of the pigs were sent to the slaughterhouse assembly line and entered the food chain.
At the same time the Ontario SPCA is appealing for witnesses as it investigates how the pigs were handled leading to the death of 42 animals.
Deputy Chief Insp. Jennifer Bluhm said initial reports suggested two veterinarians responded quickly after the truck carrying the pigs rolled at 7 a.m. Wednesday of this week.
The SPCA, which has fielded “numerous” calls of concern, is still probing the incident to decide whether charges are warranted.
Bluhm said “within the next few weeks we should have a better understanding of what caused this and how it was handled and whether or not there were things that should have been handled better or differently,”
Mayor Rick Goldring with Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne during Rib Fest several years ago.
Lost in all this is the relationship the city of Burlington has with the hog business. Every year for the past 20 years a Rotary club in Burlington (the city has four of them) sponsors a Rib Fest that has been exceptionally successful in the past where thousands of people fill Spencer Smith Park to chow down racks of ribs – the meat comes from Fearmans.
Ribs are a great fund raiser for a Burlington Rotary.
Rotary is very proud of this event. More than 175,000 people attended the festival in 2016; more than 150,000 pounds of ribs were sold over the course of the four-day event and more than $3 million has been raised for local community organizations and charities over the last 19 years.
The Rib Fest is great for Rotary, very good for the city of Burlington and good business for Fearmans.
Now that there is a bit of a crisis it would be nice to see all the beneficiaries of the pork business at the table working out solutions that will prevent this type of thing in the future.
The Rotary and the “save the animals” crowd have a lot to say to each other.
Fearmans is a major employer in Burlington and a heavy hydro user as well.
Mayor Goldring reading a Proclamation about Burlington becoming a Compassionate city.
Burlington city council, and the Mayor in particular, got four square behind the creation of a “Compassionate Charter for the city. The Mayor went so far as to read out a Proclamation on the city being a compassionate place.
The “save the animals” crowd would like to see that Charter extended to the animals as well.
The SPCA is asking witnesses to call 310-SPCA to provide contact information for follow-up.
Sofina Foods Inc., which owns Fearmans Pork Inc., said Thursday it continues to co-operate with all parties during the police investigation.
“Once they are available, we will review the findings to determine next steps,” spokesperson Daniele Dufour said.
Halton Regional Police hadn’t yet said Thursday what caused the transport truck driver to lose control at the intersection of Appleby Line and Harvester Road.
Dozens of emergency responders — including Health Canada, Ministry of Transportation officials, firefighters and police — helped get the pigs “safely and humanely” off the truck, police said.
But an agency that specializes in animal law is calling for cruelty charges against the slaughterhouse. Witnesses just outside the Appleby Line plant were disgusted to see injured pigs suffering for hours in the sun without medical attention, said Anna Pippus, a lawyer with Animal Justice.
Animal Justice has pointed to video footage showing pigs being hit with paddles to force them out of the truck.
Injured pigs were stunned with a captive bolt pistol before being taken into the slaughterhouse. The bolts penetrate animals’ skulls and brains, Pippus noted.
It wasn’t clear how many of the 42 pigs died as a result of the crash or were put down because of their injuries, police said.
Dufour said the injured pigs were too badly hurt.
“Except for the hogs that died in the accident, the other hogs were seriously compromised and could not be saved. In all cases, all proper and regulatory procedures were followed in collaboration with the authorities.”
Animal rights advocates, however, don’t buy that, and are outraged the slaughterhouse didn’t allow them to take injured pigs to be rehabilitated in their care.
“I did not understand for the life of me why an injured and otherwise useless, as far as they’re concerned, animal couldn’t be released to sanctuary,” said Steve Jenkins, who owns an animal sanctuary in Campbellville.
Anita Kryncj being placed under arrest for obstructing the police.
The “save the animals” community would appear to have some momentum in raising their public profile. The leader of Toronto Pig Save was arrested on the accident site for obstructing the police and is at the same time faces a charge of “mischief” under the criminal code. What is normally a small matter for the criminal courts has taken up three days of a trial that is now scheduled to last five days.
The Toronto Pig Save group has been watering pigs in transport trucks at the intersection of Appleby Line and Harvest Road during the blistering hot summer days – the same intersection where the transport truck rolled over earlier this week.
This was an accident, pigs were humanely destroyed when it was deemed that they were severely injured. I love animals, but these animals were raised for food, not pets. As the son of a farmer, I understood at age 5 what some people never seem to get. Farm animals are bred to feed people. I always had a pet pig, calf, and chicken that I raised myself, naming them and feeding them, but I understood one day they would be taken to the slaughterhouse for food that we would consume. We grew vegetables as well and ate them too. We respected our animals and were grateful for their lives. Those born in the city that think food only comes from packages in the supermarket, and whose only relationship to animals is their pets need to get off their high horse and face reality.
Really !!!