Last Thursday, animal rights activists from the group Direct Action Everywhere posted a live video of their journey across California as they tailed two semi-trucks full of pigs on their way to slaughter.
Their journey was an attempt to expose the unjust conditions that the pigs experience on the way from the country’s largest pig farm, Smithfield’s Circle Four Farms in Utah, to their slaughterhouse located in California.
The drive was approximately 7-8 hours across the southwest desert in the middle of the summer heat.
“We’re just trying to highlight how horrible this is for these animals from start to finish,” said an activist in the live stream. “We’re taking bold action here.”
“It’s not just animals that are exploited in this industry but workers too” said the activist. The group questions the safety of the slaughterhouse for workers and animals, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the livestream, several members of the activist group can be seen covering their car in fake blood and messages meant to expose the pig farm.
Members of the activist group show the audience the semi-trucks they are following, calling them “slaughter trucks” throughout the video.
They are calling for their followers to take action by joining their campaign for an immediate moratorium prohibiting the construction of new slaughterhouses and factory farms in California. They are also encouraging their followers to tweet at California’s governor Gavin Newsom.
LIVE: Tailing a slaughter truck for 500 miles to expose the journey that pigs endure from the largest pig farm in the United States, Smithfield’s Circle Four, to their LA slaughterhouse #StopSmithfield @SmithfieldFoods
WATCH HERE:https://t.co/IBFEEJVxlU
— Direct Action Everywhere (@DxEverywhere) July 23, 2020