Pigs killed despite offer of sanctuary

kerry | animal rights | news report Tuesday February 06, 2007 09:55 by Bernie Wright - Alliance for Animal Rights berniew at esatclear dot ie

No compassion from the Department of Agriculture.

Animal rights colleagues and myself from the Alliance for Animal Rights had teamed up with the Star newspaper when they offered to highlight the pigs plight and we offered to try our utmost to get new homes and locations for the then considered 'inedible' pigs.

The Irish Department of Agriculture have killed all of the 200 pigs that survived the accident last week in Kerry. Apparently they are edible and are being used as food, we were told that 11 were killed for supposedly 'humane ' reasons.They refused to give them to us after they survived the accident, we were prepared to help them to live out their lives as most animals do,when fate gives them a second chance.

The Irish Department of Agriculture have killed all of the 200 pigs that survived the accident last week in Kerry. Apparently they are edible and are being used as food, we were told that 11 were killed for supposedly 'humane ' reasons.They refused to give them to us after they survived the accident, we were prepared to help them to live out their lives as most animals do,when fate gives them a second chance.

Animal rights colleagues and myself from the Alliance for Animal Rights had teamed up with the Star newspaper when they offered to highlight the pigs plight and we offered to try our utmost to get new homes and locations for the then considered 'inedible' pigs.
They were inedible due apparently to the stress of the accident, - the truck being too heavy for a bridge and it fell into icy water. The pigs were trapped in the lorry which was part submerged. According to eye-witness accounts they could be heard crying for hours.

A lot of us are already involved in rescue so we had hoped against hope to at least save some, and we could have!.
We had homes for almost 20 already. However now after getting the bad news and feeling really disappointed about this I wish to thank all of you who offered help one way or another. We had two offers of land to put the pigs on in Kerry and Dublin. 4 Sanctuaries in the UK had also contacted me offering places for some of the pigs. Many others pledged money or transport help when they heard our appeal..

we'd spent the last few days cramming pig facts from books and knowledgeable people and trying to have things work smoothly for the little animals. Probably naively we had felt positive that we could at least save some. I think they were young pigs as they do get killed at an early age.To see their sad little faces with snouts peering out through the truck bars with some lying in icy water for hours just broke my heart. However, the support from colleagues in the Uk, Australia, the USA and here has given me the impetous to continue..

We cannot let this cruelty to innocent animals continue, those unfortunate pigs were butchered so that humans can enjoy tasting their flesh, Plenty of alternatives are available that are healthier, better for the environment and cruelty free. Farming animals is unnecessary for profit or indeed for any other reason.
Lets keep fighting for total liberation.