AR-News: (NE) Hog Farm Cruelty

[TheHFA at aol.com]

Group alleges animal mistreatment at hog farm
By KEVIN O'HANLON 
Associated Press Writer
 
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP)   An animal welfare group has filed a complaint alleging 
mistreatment of animals at a large hog operation in Knox County.
   
 
The Humane Farming Association, based in San Francisco, filed a 52-page 
complaint with Attorney General Jon Bruning alleging that HKY Inc. near Wausa has 
violated Nebraska's animal cruelty laws.
 
Bradley Miller, national director of the association, submitted a videotape 
to Bruning that he says shows evidence of "systematic violations of Nebraska 
animal cruelty laws at HKY."
 
"This evidence documents a pervasive pattern of abuse affecting thousands of 
animals," Miller said in a letter to Bruning. "This blatant criminal activity 
merits immediate cessation and prosecution by your office."
 
Bruning's chief of staff, Holley Bolen, said the investigation was being 
handled by Knox County Attorney John Thomas. He was not in his office Thursday and 
could not be reached for comment.
 
Garry Young, owner of HKY, did not immediately return a telephone call to his 
home seeking comment.
 
The allegations stemmed from an investigation started by the association in 
2003 after a tip from an HKY employee who gave the group access to the 
facility, said Gail Eisnitz, chief investigator for the association.
 
According to the association:
 
Overcrowded and stressful living conditions result in pigs being eaten alive 
by pen mates.
 
Some piglets struggle to stay afloat in pools of feces and urine.
 
Sows are provided inadequate food. The majority of sows exhibit protruding 
vertebral bones and several have protruding ribs.
 
Pigs housed in some barns frequently experience lack of food due to faulty 
automatic feeders.
 
Sows are often deprived of water due to both plumbing failures and broken and 
bent drinking troughs.
 
Sows that are weak from emaciation, downed, diseased, or dying and are placed 
in "sick pens" are often too debilitated to walk or crawl to water "nipples," 
causing some of them to apparently die from dehydration.
 
The design and construction of the farrowing crates causes newborn piglets to 
become entrapped in the gate at the rear of the crate and in the front bar 
near the sow's feed trough. They then are often crushed by the sow or deprived 
access to the mother for nourishment.
 
"HKY fails to provide even a modicum of veterinary care to pigs housed at its 
operation," the complaint says. "As a result, there are dozens of animals 
that are sick, injured, or dying at any given time without proper care or 
attention."
 
The nonprofit association, with 175,000 members, is referred to as "the 
nation's largest and most effective organization dedicated to the protection of 
farm animals."
 
On the Net:  Humane Farming Association: http://www.hfa.org/
 
 
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