Ron Friesen’s article on starving pigs near Notre Dame de Lourdes (Manitoba Co-operator, July 1, 2010) reports that Manitoba Pork Council chair Karl Kynoch simply can’t understand why well over 2,200 hogs were left to starve and suffocate in a facility owned by Martin Grenier, who until recently was a member of the MPC board. For Kynoch, the extensive suffering of these pigs is an, anomalous mystery reducible to an isolated “animal welfare issue.”

We are asked to believe Kynoch’s claim that the “industry goes a long way to meet the highest level of welfare standards,” while ignoring research findings of independent scientists and animal welfare experts that have identified the systemic, structural cruelty inherent in industrial hog production.

Friesen derides and dismisses what he calls “hog industry opponents,” without having contacted a single one. Surely as a seasoned reporter, he was aware of the CTV interview with the head investigator of Canadians for the Ethical Treatment of Food Animals who was on-site collecting evidence. Rather than speak with her, Friesen merely repeats an anonymous comment from a CBC website.

How can the “mystery” of Notre Dame be solved without asking the right questions of the right people? Friesen reports that the chief provincial vet has the authority to lay charges and that last year, out of 317 inhumane cases, none of them involved pigs. Doesn’t the chief vet work for the same government that has for years promoted and subsidized expanded industrial hog production? Can charges be laid without sufficient evidence? The facility suspiciously burned down a few days after the suffering pigs were discovered.

Finally, isn’t this kind of “high standard” to be expected in a vertically integrated industry, where the pig owners — who supply feed and management systems — simply rent pig places from facility owners?

Ruth Pryzner Alexander, Man.