PETA ‘Pig Prisoners’ Protest Foston Factory Farm, ‘Guantanamo Bay For Pigs’

For Immediate Release:
4 April 2012

Contact:
Ben Williamson 0207 357 9229, ext 229; [email protected]
Elisa Allen 0207 357 9229, ext 243; [email protected]

Derby – Today costumed “pigs” in orange jumpsuits – shackled and covered with black hoods – stood beneath a banner that read, “Don’t Make Foston a Guantanamo Bay for Pigs”. They led PETA members in a protest against Midland Pig Producers’ plan to build a US-style factory farm in Foston. If approved, this industrial nightmare would imprison up to 25,000 pigs who would never see sunlight or breathe fresh air until they were loaded into lorries for transport to an abattoir at a rate of 1,000 animals a week.

PETA is calling on Derbyshire County Council, currently reviewing the application, to refuse Midland Pig Producers permission to build this factory, which if green-lighted, would signify a major step backwards for farmed-animal welfare in the UK. Not only would the factory farm mean a lifetime of suffering for animals, it would also represent a health risk to people, as intensive farming contributes to the spread of diseases, including swine flu.

“If the idea of sentencing complex, highly intelligent animals to a life of suffering in confinement doesn’t make you sick, the potential for the spread of swine flu might do it”, says PETA Manager Mimi Bekhechi. “Midland’s pig prison has no place in Foston or anywhere else in Britain.”