Reps. Mace and Escobar Introduce the Bipartisan PIGS Act

Rep. Mace: “It’s inhumane to force animals to live in such small spaces that they are unable to stand up or turn around. It is also dangerous. Extreme stress causes pregnant pigs to engage in self-mutilating behavior, making them more susceptible to diseases, such as zoonotic disease and swine flu, that can be passed on to humans. I support this bill because it will allow pregnant pigs the space to lie down, stand up, and turn around freely, a freedom that every living creature deserves.”

Rep. Escobar: “We must hold our pig industry accountable by requiring them to follow adequate animal welfare conditions. I am pleased to join with my colleague across the aisle to enhance the safety and wellbeing of pregnant pigs.”

Marty Irby, executive director of Animal Wellness Action, and senior vice-president at the Center for a Humane Economy: “Animals born and built to move and to turn around should at least be allowed to do so. Confining sows in crates that immobilize them is appalling and inhumane. We applaud Reps. Escobar and Mace for introducing the PIGS Act and working in bipartisan fashion to ensure that all animals are treated more humanely, including those raised for food.”

Will Harris, owner and proprietor of White Oak Pastures and former Small Business Person of the Year: “All animals, livestock included, deserve to have the opportunity to express their instinctive behavior. It is the responsibility of the stockman to provide an environment in which this is possible. Hogs were meant to root and wallow. Depriving them of this instinct is stressful to the hog, and a cruelty on the part of the hog producer. At the very least, they should not be immobilized.”

The PIGS Act is the first-ever federal policy proposal to ban gestation crates. According to Animal Wellness Action, “suffering from physical and psychological torment, a breeding pig may spend up to three years intensively confined in a crate barely larger than the animals. The sow may weigh 400 pounds, and the two-foot by seven-foot crate immobilizes her, inhibiting her from even turning around or taking more than half step. Pigs raised for meat are not kept in these needlessly restrictive crates, and neither should pregnant pigs.”