Corporate Campaigns // Smithfield Foods: Cruel to Pigs and Humans

Smithfield's Trucking Accidents: Pigs Pay the Price

Pigs raised and killed by Smithfield and other companies suffer horribly not just in factory farms and slaughterhouses but also when they are transported to slaughter. To get the terrified pigs onto transport trucks bound for the slaughterhouse, workers often beat them on their sensitive noses and backs or stick electric prods in their rectums. Crammed into 18-wheelers, pigs struggle to get air and are usually given no food or water for the entire journey (which sometimes lasts hundreds of miles). A former pig transporter told PETA that pigs are "packed in so tight, their guts actually pop out their butts—a little softball of guts actually comes out." Pigs suffer from temperature extremes and are forced to inhale ammonia fumes and diesel exhaust.

There have been at least six accidents in Southeastern Virginia since March 2004. Such accidents are common in the factory-farming industry, where transport is largely unregulated and laws protecting animals on their way to the slaughterhouse are non-existent.

You can help stop this cruelty by going vegetarian. By adopting a vegetarian diet, you will not only save almost 100 animals each year, you might also save your own life, because vegetarians tend to be significantly healthier than meat-eaters are. Order a free vegetarian starter kit today. And be sure to check out our favorite mock-pork products, all of which are delicious and cruelty- and cholesterol-free!

More About Smithfield's Truck Accidents

September 2008

On a sunny day, yet another transport truck overturned on a straight road. Workers pulled pigs by the ears and struck them in the face with tools that the pork industry says should never be used to hit animals. Read more and watch the cruelty that not even a Smithfield subsidiary's workers could cover up. Read more.

May 2006

Almost 200 pigs became trapped on top of each other, many suffocating and screaming, for more than three and a half hours after a transport truck ran off the road and landed on its side. Read more and watch the video footage.

October 2005

After a transport truck tipped over on a straight road, pigs were forcibly thrown from the truck. Many died on impact; others were injured and languished for hours as incompetent Smithfield employees attempted to kill them with faulty equipment. Read more and watch the video footage.

September 2004

This accident left hundreds of pigs injured and trapped in an overturned truck. The pigs screamed and struggled to escape; some collapsed from exhaustion and injury. Read more.

March 2004

This accident left 25 pigs dead on the side of the highway and many more suffering from broken ribs, legs, and other injuries. PETA's offers to euthanize the injured animals were ignored. Read more and watch the video footage.