Newsflash: Pigs Fly

“With unmasked faces and in broad daylight,” activists with Animal Equality conducted the first-ever Open Rescue in Spain.

rescue

fly

free pig

The rescuers express regret that they were only able to save the six pigs for whom they had found homes in advance and that they felt angry and sad to leave the rest behind. One describes becoming momentarily motionless upon finding himself “surrounded by screaming pigs.” Other open rescuers have described the shock of hearing so many animals crying out in distress, an aspect of animal suffering that is absent from the photos that they are able to bring out with them and the almost deafening volume of which is not captured even by videos with sound. Imagine what it must be like for the animals who live within that wall of agonizing sound all day every day!

The mothers of the piglets rescued by Animal Equality live in gestation crates that do not allow any movement. As the activists explain, these cages do not even “allow them to look at their children, as any mother would desire to do. Their babies remained by their sides even though they couldn`t enjoy their mother`s attention and care. They slept on the cement floor and lived amongst excrement and urine. All of them were dirty, some malnourished and others in pain.”

mothers

mother

piglets

See pictures of the piglets, interviews with the rescuers, and video of the rescue at www.openrescue.net

September 4th, 2007 | Category: Activism, Animals, Direct Action | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL

BK:
September 4th, 2007 at 11:08 pm

Thanks for publishing this.

Jose R:
November 25th, 2007 at 8:44 am

I work for Equanimal as as a self-taught copywriter. Also I am currently a member of Equanimal Open Rescue Team. We’ve just carried out an Open Rescue of seven hens from a battery hen farm. We’ve youtubed the Open Rescue:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxWCoXaF-c4

It includes english subtitles.

Unfortunately, we don’t provide an english version of our websites. But if you want have a look or you can read spanish our Open Rescue website is:

http://www.rescate-abierto.org

We’ve recently uploaded a new blog on the issue (in spanish, sorry!):

http://www.rescate-abierto.org/blog

In solidarity with non human animals,
Jose R

pattrice:
November 25th, 2007 at 11:13 pm

Jose, thank you and Equanimal for everything you do!

Jose R:
December 5th, 2007 at 8:09 am

Thanks, Pattrice!

Melvin:
February 18th, 2008 at 4:00 pm

Great job saving 6 pigs. What about the millions of people living around the world in worse conditions than these. I saw 6 people today that needed saving from poverty and hunger. When will you all and P.E.T.A. start saving human animals?

Gary:
February 19th, 2008 at 5:02 pm

Hi Melvin,

Let me partially answer your inquiry:

- You may not know the many ways pattrice has helped people in need her entire life.

- Ethical vegans strive to help all victims of exploitation, regardless of species. For that reason, they avoid the products of slave labor and sweat shops, they try to leave a small footprint on the environment (on which all life depends), they donate money and volunteer time to social justice causes, and much more.

- Why help animals? They suffer like humans. They have no rights. They have relatively little representation. Over a million per hour are brutally killed in the U.S. alone. The solutions to most of their suffering and exploitation are simple. Which leads to the next point…

- Most of all, what animal advocates ask of others is not that they take time away from their efforts to help people but that they stop participating in enterprises and activities that violate animals’ most profound interests, including the will to live and desire to avoid suffering. Going vegetarian, for example, will not cut into your humanitarian endeavors.

I’m not saying this is the case with you, just making a general observation: In my experience, usually when someone asks me - in a challenging or sneering tone - what I’m doing to help humans, it turns out they’re not doing much themselves, but rather are resentful toward me for implicitly reminding them that they’re participating in easily avoidable cruelty. In a way, this is good; this discomfort reflects that at some level they realize that their lifestyle is not in line with their deepest morals, such as the golden rule and being kind, merciful, and respectful. Once people divest themselves of participation in the intentional harming of animals, they are rarely bothered by efforts to save the those animals.

chels:
March 16th, 2008 at 3:15 pm

how does someone help?

Javier:
December 16th, 2008 at 2:03 pm

Hi, my name is Javier, im a member of Open Rescue Team of organization Animal Equality. Thank you for posting the first open rescue carried out in Spain, in wich i participated. I have no words to describe the feellings that day. We have done a new open rescue for International Animal Rights Day, liberating ten hens:

http://www.vimeo.com/2482885

http://www.flickr.com/photos/igualdadanimal/sets/72157608398954553/

A vegan hug