Could you survive three weeks in a crate just small enough to stand up or lie down in, but so narrow you can’t turn around? What about if you were pregnant?
An animal rights campaigner has confined herself to a farrowing crate in the heart of central London for 21 days in order to highlight the plight of factory farmed pigs. Sows are placed in cramped cells with bright lights, on plastic slats, in order to give birth to and feed their lucrative piglets. In the wild, left to their own devices, sows would gather straw or bedding to create comfortable nests for them.
As part of Animal Rising’s End Factory Farming campaign, launched this week, Michelle Farnham, the group’s campaign manager, will spend 24 hours a day in the crate outside the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, confronting passers-by with the reality of how their bacon, ham and sausages are produced. The goal is to raise awareness of factory farming in the UK, to halt all applications to build new facilities, and to stamp out the practice by 2040.
“I’ll be inside this crate for 21 days,” said Farnham. “It will be a huge physical challenge and I know it’s going to be tough, but at the end I get to walk away. But the pigs don’t get a choice. Once they’re released from the crate, it’s only a matter of time before they’re confined in one again. I’ve seen firsthand the physical and psychological suffering these crates cause. I want people to see just how restrictive and abhorrent the factory farming system is.”
As well as the in-your-face installation, Harrowing Farrowing, the group is personalising its message using a particular sow as its poster-pig. Luna was filmed surreptitiously by Animal Rising activists inside Red Court Farm, Ipswich, part of a year of undercover investigations by the group in intensive farms across the UK. It is urging the farm to give Luna into the care of a sanctuary.
Rose Patterson, director of Animal Rising, said: “Our cameras followed Luna for a month. We watched her give birth behind bars, confined and barely able to move for weeks, and we watched as her piglets were eventually taken away from her.” She added that the “broken” factory farming system “fails animals, people and the planet” and causes suffering “on a vast scale while contributing to the climate and nature crisis”. More than a billion animals are reared and slaughtered in the UK every year.
With the better part of a month inside the farrowing cage still ahead of her, Farnham added: “For all the Meat Free Monday supporters out there trying to get friends and family to understand why this matters to you, please watch and share Luna’s story. The more people who see Luna’s story, the more people will understand why our food system needs to change.”
Watch Michelle Farnham’s daily video diary