Unbelievable cruelties are taking place in Egypt's pig cull that is unique in the world and totally unscientific. Take action now!
"Why Egypt’s horrific pig kill must stop"
CEO, Philip Lymbery, shares his personal view
Nothing to see here...
Hundreds of pigs dragged from their smallholder pens and dumped live and fully conscious into a huge dumper truck. Fighting to breathe, the animals writhe on top of each other.
From a distance, the scene almost looks like a tin of maggots. Come closer, and the true horror is clear.
The animals are then driven to mass graves where they are covered in caustic chemicals before being buried. Media reports tell of the pigs screaming at the pain of the chemicals for half hour or more before they are dead. This is the intended fate of all of Egypt’s 400,000 pigs.
As Compassion in World Farming helps mobilise support across the world to end the horrific killing of pigs in Egypt, CEO, Philip Lymbery, gives his view.
"Egypt’s mass pig kill is quite simply the worst atrocity to farm animals that I have ever seen.
"What is so appalling is that it is as unnecessary as it is almost unimaginably cruel."
The apparent reason for the killing is in response to swine flu. However, the leading intergovernmental authority on animal health and welfare, the World Organisation for Animal Health (who’s acronym is the ‘OIE’), has made it clear that a mass ‘cull’ would not help either public or animal health.
And the OIE should know. It is made up of the chief veterinarians from over 170 countries, Egypt being one of them. It recently adopted welfare standards on the emergency killing of animals for disease control purposes. Both these and the advice not to cull have so far been ignored. And all this from a country, Egypt, that hosted the OIE’s second global conference on animal welfare in Cairo as recently as autumn last year.
The true reason for the killing it seems is Egypt’s internal politics. And the incident provides a real test for the OIE of its ability to truly have practical influence over animal welfare. The question is, can and will the OIE act decisively?
There is a real disconnect between the growing international recognition of animals as sentient beings and the almost unwatchable scenes in Egypt. However, the atrocity has galvanised an international movement in outrage. Compassion in World Farming is working with our friends in Egypt and across the world to make sure that this incident is stopped in a way that ensures that its like will never be seen again. Your support in this is as vital as it is appreciated.
20th May 2009
TAKE ACTION TO STOP THIS APPALLING CRUELTY
Send an email to the Egyptian Embassy in the UK here:
http://action.ciwf.org.uk/ea-campaign/clientcampaign.do?ea.client.id=119&ea.campaign.id=3556
Write a letter to your local Egyptian embassy if not in the UK - download a template letter (Word doc - 24.50KB): http://www.ciwf.org.uk/includes/documents/cm_docs/2009/e/egyptian_government_protest_letter.doc
See also news coverage: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090518/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_egypt_swine_flu_3
CEO, Philip Lymbery, shares his personal view
Nothing to see here...
Hundreds of pigs dragged from their smallholder pens and dumped live and fully conscious into a huge dumper truck. Fighting to breathe, the animals writhe on top of each other.
From a distance, the scene almost looks like a tin of maggots. Come closer, and the true horror is clear.
The animals are then driven to mass graves where they are covered in caustic chemicals before being buried. Media reports tell of the pigs screaming at the pain of the chemicals for half hour or more before they are dead. This is the intended fate of all of Egypt’s 400,000 pigs.
As Compassion in World Farming helps mobilise support across the world to end the horrific killing of pigs in Egypt, CEO, Philip Lymbery, gives his view.
"Egypt’s mass pig kill is quite simply the worst atrocity to farm animals that I have ever seen.
"What is so appalling is that it is as unnecessary as it is almost unimaginably cruel."
The apparent reason for the killing is in response to swine flu. However, the leading intergovernmental authority on animal health and welfare, the World Organisation for Animal Health (who’s acronym is the ‘OIE’), has made it clear that a mass ‘cull’ would not help either public or animal health.
And the OIE should know. It is made up of the chief veterinarians from over 170 countries, Egypt being one of them. It recently adopted welfare standards on the emergency killing of animals for disease control purposes. Both these and the advice not to cull have so far been ignored. And all this from a country, Egypt, that hosted the OIE’s second global conference on animal welfare in Cairo as recently as autumn last year.
The true reason for the killing it seems is Egypt’s internal politics. And the incident provides a real test for the OIE of its ability to truly have practical influence over animal welfare. The question is, can and will the OIE act decisively?
There is a real disconnect between the growing international recognition of animals as sentient beings and the almost unwatchable scenes in Egypt. However, the atrocity has galvanised an international movement in outrage. Compassion in World Farming is working with our friends in Egypt and across the world to make sure that this incident is stopped in a way that ensures that its like will never be seen again. Your support in this is as vital as it is appreciated.
20th May 2009
TAKE ACTION TO STOP THIS APPALLING CRUELTY
Send an email to the Egyptian Embassy in the UK here:
http://action.ciwf.org.uk/ea-campaign/clientcampaign.do?ea.client.id=119&ea.campaign.id=3556 Write a letter to your local Egyptian embassy if not in the UK - download a template letter (Word doc - 24.50KB):
http://www.ciwf.org.uk/includes/documents/cm_docs/2009/e/egyptian_government_protest_letter.doc See also news coverage:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090518/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_egypt_swine_flu_3 
Homepage:
Comments
Hide the following 9 comments
I thought
22.05.2009 08:15
Lynn Sawyer
Footage here
22.05.2009 11:32
Please be warned this is DEEPLY DISTURBING footage.
concerned
Homepage:
http://www.ciwf.org.uk/farm_animals/pigs/swine_flu/why_egypts_horrific_pig_kill_must_stop.aspx
Tread carefully
22.05.2009 11:41
Again, that is virtually a racist statement given the horrific conditions that we factory farm pigs in, the conditions that bred this and many other flus. The Jewish and Muslim people regard pigs as not just less than humans, but as 'unclean' and less than other animals.
Culling is unnecessary. Torturing the animals to death is obscene, but the animals were being raised to be slaughtered for food, which is itself unnecessary. It is right to write to the Egyptians and demand a pain-free death, but to pretend we treat our animals any better is simply false. That argument leads to Bridget Bardot and Le Pen.
I remember the most committed vegan/AR person I ever met saying if they had a button that would kill every domesticated animal then they would press it.
Danny
focussed anger
22.05.2009 12:47
"
Sheikh Salim Mohammed Salim, head of the fatwas committee at the University of Al-Azhar, told AFP that killing an animal that way is "strictly forbidden by Islam... whatever it is, including a pig."
"
With the Egyptian dictatorship now complicit in the torture of animals as well as the slaughter of Gazans, it would be a perfect time for cross-over actions targetting Egyptian interests in the UK, including travel agents etc.
Danny
Boycott Egypt
22.05.2009 13:59
British tourists landing there have reported being held at gun point, taken to cells while they are tested. With treatment like that, they probably don't need us to organise a tourist boycott. "The kids were pinned down and instruments were put down their throats. The Egyptians were in a complete panic". Frankly I feel anyone who holidays in a brutal dictatorship deserves everything that they get, but it is instructive.
27 Egyptians have died of avian flu, the highest numbers outside of Asia, and people there think these are the same thing. The only rubbish collectors have been the Zabbaleen who use pigs to clear organic waste. European companies have contracts to clear rubbish there but are understaffed. The government has been trying to clear them from their increasingly valuable land at the edges of the cities and this crisis may have been manufactured to demonise them. Have a look at this video of a popular song supporting a pig cull to see how mad things are there just now:
I know someone who has travelled everywhere who says Egypt is the best place to visit, the nicest people, but really, it has been under 'Emergency Law' for 18 years, it is a US funded tin-pot dictatorship complicit in torture and it is partially responsible for the sorry fate of the Palestinian people. Anyone here who has holidayed there should examine their own consciences closely. Obama is about to travel there to fufill his election promise to make a speech from a major Islamic capital.
The dictator Hosni Mubaraks grandson just died on the 18th from a brain haemorrage - or a health crisis as the Egyptians call it - although there are rumours he was poisoned. He was only 12 so I can't take joy from that, it should have been his father, uncle or grandfather. This footage does bring a smile though:
Danny
Egyptian-British Business Council
22.05.2009 14:21
Charles Bland (UK EBBC Chair) Executive Vice President, Policy & Corporate Affairs, BG Group
Tel.: 0118 929 2062 Address: 110 Valley Park Drive, Reading, Berkshire, RG6 1PT.
Email:
Richard Paniguian Group Vice President, BP plc
Tel.: 020 7496 4090 Fax: 020 7496 5792
Email:
Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean
Tel.: 07795 153003 Address: House of Lords London SW1A 0PW
Email:
Michael Hodges Business Development Director, Middle East, HSBC Bank plc
Tel.: 020 7991 6281 Fax: 020 7991 4565
Email:
Khalid Elgibaly Managing Director, Barclays Bank Egypt
Tel.: +20 2 794 8451 Fax: +20 2 366 2814
Email:
Ian W Luke Managing Director, Skanska Cementations International Ltd
Tel.: 01923 776666 Fax: 01923 423051
Email:
Peter Cheshire Development Director, Tate & Lyle International
Tel.: 020 7626 6525 Fax: 020 7816 3115
Email:
John Crocker Senior Adviser, Middle East & North Africa, Shell International BV
Tel.: +31 70 377 1391 Fax: +31 70 377 1326
Email:
Martin Amison Trowers & Hamlins
Tel.: 020 7423 8378 Fax: 020 7423 8001
Email:
Adrian Creed Trowers & Hamlins
Tel.: 020 7423 8200 Fax: 020 7423 8001
Email:
Richard Morgan Corporate Relations Advisor, Africa Middle East and Turkey, Unilever plc
Tel.: 020 7822 5248 Address: London EC4P 4BQ
Email:
Khaled Fayed Managing Director, Unilever Mashreq Egypt
Tel.: +20 3 427 3227 Fax: +20 3 429 7813
Email:
Michael Parr Chief Executive, British Arab Commercial Bank
Tel.: 020 7648 7777 Fax: 020 7648 7778
Email:
Amre Mamdouh Vice President & General Manager of Egypt & Sudan, GlaxoSmithKline
Tel.: 20 2 280 7400 Address: ElSalam City 11491, Cairo, Egypt
Email:
Richard Bainbridge Finance Director Africa, Middle East & Turkey, Cadbury Schweppes plc
Tel.: 01923 483363 Address: Franklin House, Bournville Lane, Bournville, Birmingham, B30 2NB
Email:
Richard Hill Vice President, Export Credit Insurance, BAE Systems plc
Tel.: 01252 384846 Address: Fanborough Aerospace Centre, Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 6YU
Email:
Danny
UK travel industry is heavily promoting Egypt holidays at the moment.
22.05.2009 16:19
Homer
Persecution
22.05.2009 22:27
Either it is discrimination or it is ignorance, or probably a mixture of the two.
Observer
Panic about a panic
23.05.2009 00:24
Observer - I assumed that too but reading the arabic press, well even copts are crossing the street to avoid walking past butcher shops, and the coptic pope has ordered them not to eat pigs. Of course he is only free on the whim of the dictator, and the panic would spread across the communities, so everything is complicated by dictatorship
There are also worrying signs that this hysterical response could be repeated in other mainly muslim countries - the Nigerian press most notably has been coming out with crap about Jesus returning to kill swine. I don't want to contribute to panic about a panic, that would more post-civilisation than post-modern.
Danny