A Moment for the Pigs
It’s funny… when I was little I had no idea meat came from real live animals. I though it was just named after them. When I found out the truth, I was horrified. I had no idea I had been eating food that had once had a face, had once been alive and full of feeling and emotion. By age eight I had become a vegetarian.
Today I am a vegan.
This is why:
This is not natural. But it is boasted about by the Wisconsin Pork Association!
For all those ham, pork & bacon lovers…
Please take a moment to remember the pigs that died for you.
A Search for Compassion 
Karen said,
June 7, 2008 at 9:29 pm
Tough photos there following the cute rainbow-hued guys. Wow. i’m with you, you know that. Thank you for being a voice for the animals…
karolciakos said,
June 8, 2008 at 6:09 am
Great photo idea!!! It’s sad how people don’t connect the two the animal and the ribs on there plate.
Take Care!
Karolina
VEGAN4LIFE
This Little Piggy Went to Market | Vegan.com said,
June 8, 2008 at 4:24 pm
[…] Search for Compassion” blog. If this doesn’t get someone off bacon, nothing will. Link. Spread the word: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and […]
Susan said,
June 8, 2008 at 10:00 pm
Thank you for putting together and posting this.
I always wonder, what if the pigs were replaced with human beings in the photo series? The horror. But if it’s a pig, no reaction. The human race is so disappointing.
Go-Daddy said,
June 8, 2008 at 10:33 pm
As the father of this girl, what did I do bringing her up?
Go-Daddy
Bea Elliott said,
June 9, 2008 at 7:31 am
Thanks for reminding us. Yet one more reason – glad to be vegan….
Karen said,
June 10, 2008 at 6:45 am
Thank you. You have encapsulated my reason for taking on this fight to save the animals. People are drowning under a sea of marketing information and forget that their so-called “food” is actually the corpses of angelic, intelligent, inquisitive, playful, sentient beings full of personality, with so many reasons to live.
Alex said,
June 10, 2008 at 3:57 pm
This is a great post, Michelle!
Debra Durham said,
June 10, 2008 at 6:57 pm
A great post. Images of pigs as living, breathing individuals juxtaposed with those of pigs as corpses, commodities, captives really makes the viewer think!
Another image that will give pause: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:The_Young_Family.jpg
Nikki said,
June 12, 2008 at 2:47 pm
I was just reading about how actor, James Cromwell became a vegan after starring in Babe. Seeing this great photo series was a nice follow-up to that story.
michiko280 said,
June 12, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Thanks for all the comments guys!
Pigs are so intelligent… often compared to dogs behaviorally, although I’ve read many scientific claims that pigs are actually smarter than dogs! It’s so horrific to see sentient beings being treated in such a callous way. My hope is that this post will move people to see the beauty and value of a life–no matter what species.
AlisonC said,
June 14, 2008 at 5:54 am
While this was very hard to look at (for me at least), I think it’s necessary for most people to look at these pictures as a blunt dose of reality of what (or who) it is exactly that ends up on their plates. Thanks for posting – I will pass this on.
pig tf said,
June 24, 2008 at 12:39 pm
[…] horrified. I had no idea I had been eating food that had once had a face, had once been alive and fuhttps://michiko280.wordpress.com/2008/06/07/a-moment-for-the-pigs/Metamorphorum / Links for Pig Tf sitesFeb 19, 2007 … can anyone give me some links to some pig Tf […]
jessi said,
June 25, 2008 at 4:14 am
bc of michelle i became a vegetarian at 14 haha. and then a vegan at 20!!
jessi said,
June 25, 2008 at 4:15 am
michelllleee you r my hero!!!!!!
Robin Small said,
August 29, 2008 at 10:05 pm
I too am now a vegitarian, Im tottaly against the aniaml cruelty and I just love animals and I cant stand the fact of eating something that was once soo cute and running around and if it wasnt for me eating it it would still be running around…so i have stopeed eating meat all together and I have never felt better about myself.
Matt said,
September 11, 2008 at 1:23 am
Aw, those little guys are so cute!
j-loe said,
September 11, 2008 at 1:38 pm
HOW CRULE!! not really. I just like the piglets. It’s all part of the process of
life.
j-loe said,
September 11, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Ok. The slater pics. are grose. they didn’t have to show those.
Sarah said,
September 19, 2008 at 11:09 am
I have been a vegetarian for 2 years now,
and I thought I had seen the worst of animal cruelty and slaughter,
but that picture of all the baby pig carcass’, that was awful.
Maybe people don’t realised that these are animals too.
Pigs can be pets too, in fact, pigs have the same intellegence as a 3 year old child!
KERRI. said,
September 20, 2008 at 5:23 pm
my parennts wont let me vegitarien but i will stop this and i willl find a stop to animal cruelty im 12 and im heartbrokjen everytime i see pigs in a semi falling over while getting a ride to the butcher shop i cry everytime ..
will find a stop to this but i cant do it alone YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE
asholey said,
September 22, 2008 at 10:09 pm
i cant belive they would do such athing pigs are my favorite animail no joke!!!!
j-loe said,
October 2, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Ya, mine too, and I had pigs in 4-H. One qyestion, why are vegetarions looking
at pics of pig slaughter? I thought they would hate it the most.
Bobby Joe said,
October 2, 2008 at 1:42 pm
I’m a vegetarian. But I have live stock too. I like to hunt and kill animals,
but I don’t eat them. I leave that up to my bull dog jake. This may disturbe some
of the audience, but…
i like ham.
j-loe said,
October 2, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Your sooo mean!!!
Bobby Joe said,
October 2, 2008 at 1:44 pm
It’s all cool, I don’t like myself either.
Bobby Joe said,
October 2, 2008 at 1:51 pm
what eva!!
meat eater said,
October 11, 2008 at 1:47 am
you vegans/vegetarians are so Hypocritical. First thing is that plants have feelings too, just because they don’t have cute faces or make sounds of agony as you slice them apart alive doesn’t mean they don’t feel pain. the secound thing is if people stoped eating meat Huge Numbers of animales would die and a lot of animales are better of being are food supply because the Life goal of all animales is reproduce and spread there genes and because we eat there populations are huge more number than any that could exist in the wild. That isof course if they could live the wild again seeing how most animales we eat have been tamed to the point were they would die without us.
meat eater said,
October 11, 2008 at 1:51 am
i would also like to point unlike plants which are processed into food aliv, animales likepigs are killed painlessly because its effcient and secoundly none of those pig pictures show a single mistreatment. yes even the one with the baby pigs pilled up because we don’t know how they were killed
Michelle said,
October 11, 2008 at 9:20 am
Meat eater, I encourage you to watch the movie Earthlings, which sheds some light on the way animals are treated in factory farms.
meat eater said,
October 12, 2008 at 8:43 am
animales twitch after there dead and yes event there legs will move or make small amount of noise because the nervous is still sendin random messages even after the brain is destroyed. A rare factory might mistreat them but most don’t because it isn’t cast effiecent.
shelly said,
October 13, 2008 at 12:16 am
piggys are people too
they have feelings
and mommys
how would you feel if someone did that to your family
i like piggys when they are alive
and heath ledger is that bomb
anf=d i like oiggys
so stop killing them you big meany
Anonymous said,
October 17, 2008 at 7:04 am
plants have feelings and mothers also so what?
Anonymous said,
October 19, 2008 at 12:38 am
this made me hungry.
AgTip said,
October 22, 2008 at 8:00 pm
C.A.F.O. = Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation.
Not only is it disrespectful, dirty, cruel, and robs a living being of its life, it is dehumanizing. It is ugly and thoughtless and, yes, heartless. Can you spell EXPLOITATION?
I refuse to eat pork that I do not know the source of.
BUT…
The way things are, we must feed from the river of life. That means we eat of life.
Most of you have not grown up in the country. Did you know that many small family farmers see to it that their critters have a “quality of life”? They help keep them clean, feed them healthy foods, give them clean water, let them lead a healthy life that even has happiness in mind. I even “educated” my livestock. I thought about their “entertainment” and spiritual growth. My critters were happy living things. I bred so the critters could have a sense of continuity, a sense of family, a sense of flock or herd. There would be a grandma sow or Bonny Prince Charles, the old rooster.
Then, in the still of the night, a non-laying hen would disappear from the flock.
Without a sound, a fat pig would disappear. The extra little billy goat would be gone.
I was the stealthy specter of death. The coup de grace. Silent, painless, ZERO trauma.
It’s a trade. I give them a good life; a healthy life, a life safe from predators. In exchange, when their population grows to large for me to keep, I dip one from the river and prepare it with respect. I pay them my gratitude with good food and respect.
Can you spell HARVEST?
And around and around it goes.
jackie said,
October 22, 2008 at 8:55 pm
OMG IF I EVER SEE ANYONE EVER EAT SOMETHING WITH A FACE I WILL EX-PLODE ,ITS NOT, O.K ANYONE WHO EATS MEAT IS SICK! SICK! SICK!
thank you you have opened my eyes!!!
meat eater said,
October 27, 2008 at 2:56 pm
eating a plant is no more justifable than eating a plant.
Anonymous said,
November 8, 2008 at 7:04 pm
let me correct the last statment the last to words are supposed to be eating meat
MARWAH said,
November 18, 2008 at 1:36 am
oh my gosh this is so sad!!!!!! i ❤ pigs and this is just horrifying. i do not eat pork at all it’s my religions and even if i was allowed i would never eat pork. and the firt pic is ssssooo cute i love pigs pepperoni is nasy it smells bad and it’s gross and oily and worst of all it’s pure baby pig fried sliced and served and everyday the average american consumes more than 100’oo pigs every single day. how sad please america stop killing pigs stick with cheese pizza and cow or chicken NO PORK!!
foodbubbles said,
November 25, 2008 at 12:43 pm
My omnivorous boyfriend saw the adorable picture of the rainbowed pigs and said, “I wouldn’t eat such cute pigs. I eat them when they get older and uglier.” Sad face. I wrote an article about how bacon used to be before factory farming. I figure that if I can’t get people to stop eating them outright, I would like people to eat them in a more humane and sustainable way. (See http://foodbubbles.wordpress.com/2008/11/19/bacon-it-used-to-taste-even-better/)
anna said,
November 25, 2008 at 5:34 pm
NO HOW CAN THAY DO THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SNoW said,
December 4, 2008 at 10:26 pm
This is so sad.
My story is very similar to yours.
I became a vegetarian when i was four and i’ve been one ever since and will always be one.
Thank you and take care.
SNoW
Hillbilly said,
December 5, 2008 at 10:38 am
hilarious
coolguy said,
December 14, 2008 at 4:45 pm
you retards actually care about these lifeless sacks of meat what the f dude buddy guy bro bra
coolguy said,
December 14, 2008 at 4:47 pm
the other day i threw a pig into a woodchipper just for laughs
and it was so fun
coolguy said,
December 14, 2008 at 4:47 pm
it was life changing and did i mention it was fun yea it was
rheanna said,
December 22, 2008 at 7:43 pm
i can not believe that! i was vegetarian because of some of that horrible crap! Pigs happen to be my second favorite animals next to kangaroos!
danny said,
December 28, 2008 at 12:43 pm
you guys are assholes jerks how would u like it if i did that to u
caelin said,
December 28, 2008 at 12:44 pm
you guys are assholes jerks how would u like it if i did that to u
Kate said,
January 4, 2009 at 7:55 pm
Wow I used to have a pot-bellied pig who was very gentle and loving!!!!!! I would assume most other pigs are!!!! Plus I had him since he was 7 weeks old-12 years old and only got bit once for startling him!!!! But thank-you for saying what the pigs would say if they could talk!!!!
Laura said,
January 10, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Great section on pigs. It drove me to tears. I wish people would wake up and realise that just because the meat is already being sold in the butcher’s/ supermarkets, doesn’t mean they don’t have blood on their hands. Most people are able to desensitize themselves from what is really going on, some of us cannot and will not though.
piggletta said,
January 11, 2009 at 10:11 am
Anyone know what cycle of life is?
People in China eat cats and dogs, in many places the dish of the day is dolphin. What can we do about this? Nothing.
The truth is sad, cruel, but if another animal dominated the earth, they wouldn’t hesitate in gutting every human for a side dish!
There is no need to go “vegan”, millions of humans will eat the bacon for you!
Anyways, I love pigs, totally adorable. But I also love bacon and sausages.
Still, sad and horrible pictures, but the worst is actually seeing anorexic babys and children because of the lack of food. I think this topic is more worthy of human preocupation.
Anonymous said,
January 23, 2009 at 7:41 pm
I can’t believe this what actually hppens to pigs and it is really sad:(!!!!!!!!!!
Anonymous said,
January 28, 2009 at 6:57 pm
The person that said plants have as many feelings as animals is an idiot, i am a biologist and know for a fact that plants don’t have nervous systems or brains. So it is ridiculous to say killing plants in the same as killing animals!
pig lover said,
February 2, 2009 at 2:31 pm
doesnt this make you cry poor harmless creatures killed just for you to eat
Destiny Rose said,
February 13, 2009 at 1:01 pm
dude, you really shouldnt have he pictures of them dead thats really f’d up uo!!!!!!! XP
Jannah06 said,
March 29, 2009 at 11:03 pm
Oh My God! To That Coolguy, Or Whoever The F*** You Are,
Dude Your F****D UP!
How The Hell Could You Just Throw A Pig Into A Wood Chipper?
What If Someone Did That To Your Mother Just For Laughs? I Don’t Think You’d Be Happy! You Should Be Hella F****N Sorry!
Killling Pigs And Other Animals Is A Horrible Thing To Do You Asshole.!
kacty said,
March 3, 2012 at 1:02 pm
yeah ur right i even have a pet pig of my own shes a cutie 😦
Jannah06 said,
March 29, 2009 at 11:13 pm
And Also,To Meat-Eater,
Just To Let You Know First Of All Plants Don’t Have Any Feelings Because They Don’t Have Any Nervous Systems And If Large Numbers Of People Stopped Eating Meat How The Hell Would Animals Die?
And Also, Pigs Are Not Killed Painlessly Because They DO NOT Use Pain Killers On Them Before They Kill Them Or Whenever They’re Slitting Their Throats While They’re Still Alive.
Why Don’t You Learn Your Facts Before You Say Anything.
piggletta said,
April 5, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Dudes, how the fuck can you not understand the fucking cycle of life?
fucking idiots u all are! the ones that get a laugh out of animals’ suffering and the fucking veagans that think that pigs and cows are gods.
Fucking get a life.
kelsey said,
April 20, 2009 at 8:08 am
Ah yes. Thank you so much for posting this. That is exactly why I became a vegetarian. I was looking on peta online and I saw a video of a Chinese fur farm. Then I looked up how they kill animals for food and I cried and cried. I think it’s so sad. I am 16 and have now been a vegetarian for seven months. It’s not long but I never plan on turning back. I feel better about my life and healthier than I’ve ever felt before. Vegetarian is the way to go! 🙂
kacty said,
March 3, 2012 at 1:03 pm
yeah i loved that u sad that me too 😀
mr swirl said,
January 20, 2010 at 8:28 pm
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM bacon
E.P. said,
February 4, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Most of the pictures made me hungry.
Kristina said,
April 14, 2011 at 2:40 pm
I love pigs and I don´t like meat.
farmer said,
January 16, 2012 at 6:17 pm
no offence this i life though its been like this for years it wont change anything now so why bother
pig farmer!! said,
January 16, 2012 at 6:23 pm
farmers have to make money from what they sell pig farmers are having a hard enough time at the moment as it is they dont need all you vegys trying to stop all this u lot are strange people.
carmine pannizzo said,
June 19, 2012 at 2:46 pm
is it weird if im hungry now?
Anonymous said,
October 5, 2012 at 11:58 am
.;;;;;
pig lover said,
December 9, 2012 at 11:38 am
i love pigs and ill never eat them. pigs are so wonderful and for all the people kill pigs out you only do because there smarter then you!
pig lover said,
December 9, 2012 at 11:39 am
i love pigs and i’ll never eat them. Pigs are so wonderful and for all the people kill pigs out you only do because there smarter then you!
largeblackhogs said,
September 1, 2014 at 9:35 am
I have to say as both an animal lover and meat eater that I cannot stand seeing these huge factories where pigs grow up never seeing the true light of day, eat fresh fruits and veggies, and root around in the ground as they love and live to do. Thats why I raise heritage breed Large Black Hogs. I get to know that their entire life from the day they’re born to the day they go to slaughter has been the best life for them possible. I think that judging people based on what they eat is ridiculous. I have a best friend that hates eggplant. I love eggplant, but we’re still besties. Thats the same thing. All living organisms feel. I think its our job as human beings to let everything live as well as possible.
Kat said,
October 15, 2014 at 7:55 am
I saw the picture of the pigs sticking their snouts out from the holes I. The transport trailer…wondering if I can use it in one of my blogs?
Anonymous said,
June 8, 2017 at 2:18 am
Thank you