Credit: Lukas Vincour / Zvirata Nejime / We Animals
For three decades, Viva! has been shining a light on the heart-wrenching cruelty and abuse inflicted on animals by the animal agriculture industries. Day in and day out, innocent creatures are killed so humans can eat their flesh and it’s considered normal.
Many years ago, I stood inside a slaughterhouse and was horrified as I witnessed sentient animals taking their last breaths with their eyes wide and fearful, thrashing with pain, desperate to stay alive. It will never leave me.
The numbers are staggering! In the UK alone, 10.8 million pigs are slaughtered every year and the majority are gassed to death. No older than six months, they are crammed into hard metal cages and lowered into the suffocating confines of a gas chamber. Carbon dioxide floods their lungs and it is so corrosive that as they struggle for breath, it reacts with the moisture in their eyes, nostrils, mouths, throats and lungs to form an acid which burns, making them feel as though they are being scorched from the inside out.
This agonising process can last up to two minutes. Impotent to stop it or escape, their reaction to this torture is inevitable: they panic, they scrabble and thrash violently around, they cry out in terror and agony, and they scream – bloodcurdling screams that tear at your heart.
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These traumatic sounds will linger permanently in my mind. And they will also act as a goad, reminding me never to forget these innocent victims and strengthening my determination to end this human-inflicted nightmare. Of course, the pig industry wants to keep this horrendous, institutionalised torture away from the public, hidden behind closed doors so they can claim it is the most humane method of slaughter. We will not allow it!
Earlier this year, I was proud to contribute to Joey Carbstrong’s powerful documentary Pignorant (available on Amazon Prime). Thanks to his unwavering bravery, we now have footage from a UK slaughterhouse exposing firsthand the pig meat industry’s barbaric practice of gassing. No normal person could support it and the footage will allow us to ignite public revulsion against it. And we are not alone…
The Government’s own advisory body, the Farm Animal Welfare Council, stated over 20 years ago that gassing should not be used. More recently, in 2020, the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) published a report in which a panel of scientists concluded: “Exposure to CO₂ at high concentrations (higher than 80 per cent by volume) is considered a serious welfare concern because it is highly aversive and causes pain, fear and respiratory distress.” In the face of scientific consensus and shocking visual evidence, how has it been allowed to become the killing method of choice?
You and I know that there is no such thing as a humane killing. I have witnessed the alternatives first-hand; pigs being stabbed in the throat and left to bleed to death. Undercover in a pig abattoir, I will never forget the sight of one poor pig, still conscious, collapsing from the overhead conveyor into their own blood. It is not something anyone wants to think about, but we must if we are to bring about change.
These wonderfully intelligent and beautiful creatures will continue to endure this unrelenting torture if we don’t do something. The only effective answer is, of course, to persuade people to go vegan and with this new evidence and your support, we know we can persuade people to be kind to all kind.
As a supporter of Viva!, I know you are aware that we cannot rely on those in authority to put things right so WE must take action. That’s why we are launching our new campaign Gasping for Life and we urge you to throw your weight and your voice behind us and provide the funds we need to reach as many people as possible. Anything you can donate will be gratefully received.
1. Pigs are mechanically shunted on to the gondola that will lower them into the gas chamber.
2. The CO₂ gas forms an acid on the animals’ eyes, nostrils, mouths and lungs, and feels like burning from the inside out.
3. It takes two and a half minutes or more to eliminate the chance of a pig regaining consciousness.
4. Their dead bodies are hung upside down and their throats cut to bleed them out.
How we will use your donation
On a UK tour, we have already shown footage of pigs being gassed to the public and their reactions say it all: shock, outrage and a genuine interest in changing their diet. With your support, we will extend this tour and speak to tens of thousands of shoppers. We will open the eyes of ‘animal lovers’ across the UK. We will target major cities with our shocking footage and vegan food samples, encouraging people to stop and think about how meat reaches their plates.
We will reach millions on social media with FIVE powerful new videos exposing pig gassing.
We’ve designed a hard-hitting billboard based on the artwork at the top of this appeal and you can help us get it up in prime locations where it will be seen by millions.
Working with a creative media agency and survey company, we will provide compelling stories to local, regional and national media outlets
You will help to fund powerful new leaflets for our campaign and we will distribute them throughout the UK via outreach events and targeted mail-outs.
It is your support that allows us to fight back against such atrocities as pig gassing and hold the industry to account. Because of your kindness, we have already seriously impacted them, with pig meat sales having dropped 60 per cent in our 30-year existence.
We are stronger together and by being part of our campaigns, you’re making a statement that cruelty like this has no place in our society. We can work towards a future in which no pig is forced to die in screaming agony, trapped in a system that treats their life as a mere financial opportunity.
Your generosity represents your support for Viva! and what it does, taking an important step towards a new system that honours, cherishes and values all life. It fosters awareness that the most compassionate future is a vegan one.
Yours for the animals
Juliet Gellatley
Founder & Director
