Activist Charged With “Criminal Mischief” For Giving Water To Thirsty Animals

In the hot, dusty, and cramped enclosure, pigs were breathing heavily and whining for relief from the non-stop commotion. Who knows if they were aware they were on their way to a slaughterhouse; all activist Anita Krajnc knew was that the pigs in the transportation truck were fearful and dehydrated.

Anita approached the truck on June 22nd in Burlington, Canada and squeezed water out of a bottle through one of the grated openings. The pigs scrambled over each other to receive some of the life-saving aqua, and she felt a little bit better until the driver of the truck approached and demanded she stop.

When she refused, he commented: “No, you know what, these are not humans, you dumb frickin’ broad.”

To which she replied: “Have some compassion.” Furious that she would not comply, he threatened to slap the bottle out of her hands if she continued drizzling aqua into the enclosure. Thankfully, he returned to his truck and left without any physical altercation.

A few short months later, however, Anita received a house visit from a police office issuing her a summons for the charge of criminal mischief – all for giving water to the pigs. She appeared in court yesterday to receive disclosure of her charges and schedule her next court date for November 4th.

The activist hasn’t been daunted by the charge, however, and is using this as fuel to fire up other members of Toronto Pig Save (TPS), a non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness about the horrific conditions pigs endure on their way to the slaughterhouse.

In Toronto, the heat in a transportation truck can soar over 100º Fahrenheit in the summer. In the winter, TPS has witnessed pigs facing frostbite and hypothermia in temperatures under 10º Fahrenheit. All sorts of farmed animals face these issues in transport, even ones from “free-range” or “humane” farms.

Credit: weanimals.org
Credit: weanimals.org

Believe it or not, pigs are incredibly intelligent animals. They have been shown to outperform dogs and have matched chimpanzees in intelligence tasks. While intelligence is a poor basis for moral consideration, it should inspire one to consider why we – as a society – accept some animals into our altruist circles but exploit and happily eat others.

According to Huff Post, members of TPS gathered at the courthouse to support Anita and plan to do so in even larger numbers for her next court appearance. Krajnc also used the attention to rally more than 100 people to visit Fearman’s Pork Inc. to distribute water to dehydrated pigs on September 24th.

If you are in the greater Toronto area, please consider supporting Anita on her court date on November 4th, or TPS for their 24-hour vigil the following day. We need more people speaking out and raising awareness for these animals, whether it’s sharing content on social media or advocating in person. Animal agriculture is one of the greatest atrocities of our time, but we can change this system together.

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