There's a lot of sensory overload in Miami, so it takes something bold to get people to turn their heads. Mercy for Animals devised something that might make people stop and check out its display.

A ten-foot-tall bloody pig in a cage outside Walmart.



No, they're not shooting Babe 3, in which Babe gets into some

radioactive slop, grows into a colossal hog, and battles space aliens

about to destroy South Beach. The animal rights group is taking the giant

porker to the North Miami Beach Walmart (1425 NE 163rd St.) to protest Walmart's purchasing of pork products from factory farms that treat their animals cruelly.

This Wednesday, August 29, from 11 a.m. to noon, meet the giant inflatable oinker and help persuade Walmart to

require its suppliers to phase out the practice of confining pregnant

pigs in cages so small they cannot move. Confining

animals in these "gestation crates" creates stress and bloody open wounds and infections. Major grocery chains such as Kroger, Safeway, and Costco, along with restaurants such as McDonald's, are already

requiring that their suppliers engage in more humane farming methods.

Phil

Letten, national campaign coordinator at Mercy for Animals, told Short

Order that "basically every major food provider in the country has

committed to phasing out gestation crates except for Walmart. That is completely

unacceptable."

Mercy for Animals has documented cruel

animal-handling practices at two Walmart pork suppliers.

Letten says they found proof (including hidden camera footage) of

"pregnant pigs confined to filthy, metal gestation crates so small they

were unable to even turn around." Letten also says the footage shows

"workers slamming conscious piglets headfirst into the ground and

workers stripping out the testicles and slicing off the tails of piglets

without the use of any painkillers."

Letten isn't telling you to

give up your Sunday-morning bacon He simply wants you to help convince

Walmart that there's nothing appetizing about suffering. "It's high

time that Walmart follows the lead of Costco and its other competitors

in committing to phase out cruel gestation crates."

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