Mercy For Animals holds ‘Pig Protest’ at local Walmart

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — As you ran your errands on Labor Day, you might have seen protesters outside a local Walmart.

Mercy For Animals, an animal rights organization focused on promoting a vegetarian diet, held a protest late Monday morning outside of the Walmart on Phillips Highway.

The group says it is protesting the treatment of pigs at one of Walmart’s main pork suppliers, Christensen Farms.

Earlier this year, undercover video said to be from Christensen Farms was released and it shows pigs in tight crates, pigs with sores and injuries and piglets having their heads slammed into a concrete floor.

The group Mercy for Animals says it is calling on Walmart to require its pork suppliers to phase out the practice of confining pigs in those tight crates, also known as a gestation crate.

According to the Humane Society of the United States, nine states have laws prohibiting gestation crates. Florida is a part of the nine, Georgia is not.

Walmart did issue a statement to our sister station KABC saying quote:

“We currently offer gestation crate-free pork products in a number of stores across the U.S. We have been having and will continue on-going discussions with our suppliers, NGOs and food safety experts to increase that number. We believe in offering our customers a choice.”

Here is a link to the video from Mercy for Animals, we do want to warn you it is very graphic. walmartcruelty.com/

First Coast News