Pig in the middle
Animal Rights Poetry By Heidi Stephenson From All-Creatures.org

“Again and again, I hear stories about the remarkable emotional sensitivity of pigs... Those who live with pigs often speak of them as we normally speak of dogs – intelligent, loyal, and above all, affectionate. Each one is a complete individual, like no other pig.”
– (Jeffrey Moussaief Masson, The Pig Who Sang To The Moon)

I am so much more
than your
bacon rasher,
your chipolata,
chorizo, sausage...

I am so much more
than a “banger”
for your “mash;”
your sizzling
“chop.”

I am so much more
than your
(not- so-tenderly)
“pulled”
pork.

I have
tender loins.
My belly
doesn’t like
being
cut.

My ribs
weren’t made
for smoking.
My back
wasn’t designed
for your teeth.

Nor my skin
for “crackling;”
my shoulders
for your “Spam”.

My suckling
wasn’t born
for you
to suck on!

My hams
were made
for walking.
My trotters
for getting around.

I AM
a miraculous pig,
(bright, sensitive, caring) -
not your
“hot dog”!

Why don’t you
“cure” me
in the right way?

I am so much more
than your
“experimental” subject,
your biomedical
“model.”
Tortured
behind dark,
laboratory glass.

Burned, stabbed,
slashed, shot at.
Torn limb from limb.
Suffocated
(intentionally
traumatized)
for your
man-made trauma
“training.”

You rip my heart out!
You cut me up!
You take my breath away!
When I squeal,
it's for real.
I am so much more...

It is not me
who is the
“porker.”
It is not me
who greedily
devours.
It is not me
“in shit”
(the “swine”
who cheats.)
It is not me,
a wild boar,
who has a problem
with violence;
who makes such a
“pig’s ear”
mess of things.

It is not me.
I am sweet;
it is you
who are sour.

I am so much more
than you
apparently
know.

• “Pork” is the most widely eaten “meat” in the world, accounting for 38% of meat production.
• 1,250, 000, 000 young pigs are killed for their flesh every year - 25 million beings a week. The oldest are just 6 months old when they die. Left to their own devices, pigs have a natural lifespan of 15 years.
• Most “sucklings” are just 2-4 weeks old when they are killed. Meat-eaters are literally eating newborns.
• “Pigs are sometimes stunned incorrectly and put into boiling water (meant to remove hair and soften skin) while still alive. Many have their teeth broken off by pliers and their tails severed with no anesthesia. Pigs experience such high levels of anxiety awaiting slaughter that many develop a hypermetabolic stress syndrome, where their bodies overheat and heart failure can occur.” (Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine)
• Over 115 million animals die in laboratory experiments, (many in extreme pain) and an undisclosed number in so-called “trauma training” every year, of which a large percentage, in both cases, are pigs.
  

Sources: VIVA@ PIG FACT SHEET and Help End Military Trauma Training on Animals