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Posts tagged ‘pigs’

Pigs with Human Brains

Researchers are trying to grow human organs in pig embryos. But if the human stem cells start migrating around the embryo, the baby pig might start growing a human brain, too.

For Pigs, a Match Made in Hell

Smithfield, the world’s biggest producer of factory-farmed pigs, has agreed to be taken over by Shuanghui, China’s biggest pork producer.

Shuanghui has 13 factory farms that produce more than 2.7 million tons of meat each year. For $4.7 billion, it will take possession of Smithfield and its 460 facilities that raise 15.8 million hogs a year.

What does this mean for the pigs?

Why Dead Pigs Are Floating Down a Chinese River

First it was 7,500 dead pigs floating down the Huangpu River two weeks ago, as it was winding its way through Shanghai. A few days later, it had risen to 13,000. And right now it’s over 16,000.

No one seems to know where they came from.

Nor how 1,000 dead ducks were floating in the Nanhe river in China’s southwestern Sichuan Province.

Running Out of Bacon

As global warming takes its toll on farmlands, the world is beginning to run out of bacon. Britain’s National Pig Association is pleading with the British…

Out of the Frying Pan … Into a Good Home!

This little piggy didn’t go to market. Instead, Olivia, as she is now known, is living with her forever family. Several weeks ago, Olivia fell off a truck along Interstate 80 in Iowa. A driver who saw what had happened stopped, picked up the piglet, and took her to Animal Rescue League of Iowa (ARLI).

Pigs on Dangerous Antibiotics

Discovery News explains that just two weeks of low-dose antibiotics boosted the number of E. coli in the guts of pigs and the bacteria had more drug-resistant genes.

McRibs Are Made of Fibs

H.S.U.S. has filed a legal complaint against Smithfield Foods, citing an undercover operation in which it uncovered gestation crates that cause mother pigs to suffer “from open pressure sores and other ulcers and wounds” and “abscesses sometimes formed from simple scratches due to ever-present bacteria.”

Factory Farms vs. Video Cameras

The factory farm lobby in Iowa is pushing hard for legislation to make it a crime to shoot undercover video of cruelty to animals. But in doing this, they may have shot themselves in the foot.