Pork Industry On Trial - Water For Pigs Charge Backfires

Anita: I’m currently speaking to you from
a cab in a police car.

And the pigs are being herded off to the kill
floor.

They should be shown mercy, not herded to
the gas chambers.

Show some mercy.

Save the pigs.

Call Fearmans.

Everybody, please call Fearmans.

Police Officer: I’m going to have to take
it while we’re driving, though.

You can’t have it while you’re driving.

You are currently in custody, which means
you don’t get any possessions, okay?

Anita: Okay I understand, I understand. Sorry, Officer.
Police Officer: Thank you.

Hi it's Emily from Bite Size Vegan and welcome
to another vegan nugget.

November 1, 2016 marked the 22nd year of celebrating
World Vegan day and, appropriately enough,

the resumption of the criminal trial in Canada
that’s thrust animal rights and veganism

onto the international stage.

Animal activist and co-founder of Toronto
Pig Save, Anita Krajnc, is facing 6 months

in jail and a $5,000 fine for giving water
to thirsty pigs on their way to slaughter.

For more details on the incident itself, please
see my interview with Anita from January 2016,

linked in the side bar and below.

Just prior to the November 1 court date, I
spoke with Anita and James, another key organizer

for Toronto Pig Save—and the man behind
Twitter’s Veganoso—about the trial’s

proceedings and impact thus far.

The defense in this case, led by vegan lawyers
Gary Grill and James Silver, has taken a unique

approach:

Anita: The key defense we’re using is the
idea that everyone has the duty to bear witness.

That’s our defense.

Right at the beginning when I testified I
said our mission is to create a nonviolent

vegan world, to promote the idea that everybody
has a duty to bear witness and to promote

a cultural shift so that people no longer
think it’s ok to say, “I don’t want

to see.”

“It’s too hard.”

“It might change how I eat.” and then
people say that’s an acceptable answer.

We want to actually promote a cultural shift
where people say, that “I want to live up

to my duty to bear witness.

I want to bear witness.”

And the way we’re sort of presenting it
is that, as animal lovers, we’re willing

to suffer and willing to sacrifice in order
to promote social change.

So saying something like “Oh it’s too
hard to look” or “I am going to have an

emotional breakdown”—that’s ok.

It’s actually ok to suffer in order to help
animals, ‘cause the history of social change

has occurred because of that, and people like
Leo Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi tried to redefine

or reinterpret the notions of self-sacrifice
and suffering.

Because that’s how social change happens.

At our trial, when we talk about animals,
we talk about animals as individuals and not

as property.

The classic, sort of, line from the driver
in this incident was, “They’re not human.”

I said “If they’re thirsty, give them
water” and he said “they’re not human.”

James: And if there was a dog in a hot car
it would be a duty to help that dog, to break

the window to let the dog out.

So there’s no fundamental difference between
a dog and a pig so why would there be a different

standard on how you treat pigs?

This is not just a convenient analogy.

The same year Anita was charged for giving
water to dehydrated pigs, a woman in British

Columbia was sentenced to jail for the death
of six dogs she left in her truck on a hot

day.

The truck driver who confronted Anita was
hauling 190 pigs in severe heat without any

access to water or adequate ventilation.

That year, in Canada alone, 14,212 pigs died
on their way to slaughter.

And then we quoted Tolstoy, saying “when
we wish to harm others we really do evil to

ourselves.”

That one line brings together all the arguments
that we had.

So there’s a unity of life— we’re all
equal.

Animals are individuals just like we are and
deserve respect and love.

And if we don’t treat them that way, we’re
hurting animals, but we’re also going to

destroy the planet.

I asked Anita and James to share any memorable
or powerful moments from the trial thus far:

Anita: There were a number of memorable times
in court.

I think when my lawyer—vegan lawyer—James
Silver cross-examined the truck driver, Jeff,

he was able to establish the real motivation
for charging me.

And that was, that they wanted to shut us
down.

So he established how much money the industry
makes, how much that factory farm makes, what

were the discussions and why were they concerned
about us.

Yes, he wasn't concerned about what was in
the water or that I gave water—because I

offered him a free sample.

What was really behind this was the motivation
that we were hurting the bottom line of the

industry.

It was such an incredible moment, you know,
the truth was revealed.

And then another amazing moment was when he
cross-examined the farmer, Mr. Van Boekel,

about how the sows were treated, and I got
some of the most heartbreaking moments because

he talked about how he had hundreds of sows
and they were in these crates where they can't

turn around, their babies were taken away,
and then they were put back into a general

pen and then within five or six days they
were re-impregnated.

And then again.

So their life was a constant cycle, it was
just heartbreaking.

There were so many moments that were very
revealing.

When I testified, there were a lot of moments
that I found very memorable cause I was able

to say what I really thought and believed.

What really got me was we were able to show
the pig preserve video.

It just shows who pigs are and it
was like a 13-minute video.

Well, I've been listening to these guys for about

26 years. I think they have about 40 different vocalizations

but they combine those with body language

and so a different vocalization with one body language

is different from the same vocalization with a different body language.

And I think when you combine the two they probably got a vocabulary amongst themselves

of probably a 100, 120, 150

different communications.

[Happy grunting.] Richard:Oh yeah....Yeah I know. [Laughter.]

Because I am happy pig. [grunting]

I am happy pig. [grunting]

Lauren: So they do this. It seems that he is very happy.

Richard:Oh yeah!
Lauren: So happy to have all this space.

So in regards to being like in a factory farm this space is, you know,

the type of space that pigs would in the wild be roaming in. Would you say?

Richard: Well yeah if you understand it in—truly in the wild, these are nomadic animals.

This is just a good lifestyle for a pig. This is the lifestyle they were meant to live.

Yeah. Um, typically when I put a pig down, I give the group an hour or so

and they'll come up usually one at a time and say their goodbyes. Right.

But it varies from social group to social group.

But they all do mourn.

When... They come up to the pig that is??

They nose them all around and they talk to em

and try to get em up

I was just so happy we got to show that, and

then after that we showed footage of the gas
chamber.

To me, like the truth—we’re telling the
truth, and so for me those were high points.

James: I think for me, the whole case has
been so captivating.

The level of interest—every day the courthouse
has been packed, there’s been people waiting

outside trying to get in.

In terms of content, just the lack of emotion
and lack of empathy from their side has been

quite disturbing.

Because they’re watching the same images
that we’re seeing on the screens and the

disconnect I think is so strong of people
that work in the industry.

Anita: Mr. Van Boekel and maybe ten or so
farmers came to my trial date when I testified.

It was a packed courtroom, people were sitting
on the floor and people were watching the

farmers and you know, sometimes they were sort of like joking about it, things like that.

[James: A lot of them were joking]

But when the pig preserve video was shown:
who pigs really are, they were paying attention.

Richard Hoyle is an ex marine and pigs were shown in a different light of who they really are.

And I think it touched some of them.

I believe that this pig trial is touching
some of them.

The pig trial was presenting the truth and
at the end of the day, that’s what’s going

to change the world.

And I believe we even touched the factory
farm industry.

And there was one article in an animal ag.
magazine that said ‘Mr. Van Boekel is fighting

this alone.

Where’s the pork council?

Where are they?’

And I think this is such a strong case that
they have a lot of trouble defending.

That’s the incredible thing about this trial.

It has managed to place the prosecution on
the defense, and the rights and individuality

of non-human animals at the center of debate.

Anita’s lawyers have called a handful of
expert witnesses throughout the trial so far.

As this interview was filmed prior to the
November 1 session, I’ll include live tweets

of the testimony onscreen for the witnesses
that day.

Anita: Dr. May is a veterinarian and she was
the first expert witness to testify.

And one of the most revealing parts of her
testimony was, she looked at the video, where

I gave water to the pigs, and then she counted
the number of pants and she said some of the

pigs were panting at 200 pants per minute.

She said they were in severe distress.

On November 1st we have two expert witnesses.

Dr. Lori Marino, she’s going to talk about
pig personality, intelligence, sentience.

She’s a foremost cognitive behaviorist.

Then we have Dr. David Jenkins.

He’s a professor at the university of Toronto.

He invented the glycemic index.

And he’s an outspoken vegan.

And he will be talking about the health benefits
of a plant based diet and the incredible health

impacts of eating meat, dairy and eggs.

And then finally on November 10th we will
have our expert witness on the environment

Dr. Tony Weis who’s professor of geography
at the University of Western Ontario.

And he’s going to talk about the impact
of animal agriculture on climate change, ocean

dead zones, deforestation, species extinction,
water use, water pollution and other issues.

The Pig Trial has drawn the attention and
support of celebrities like vegan musician,

DJ, photographer and animal activist Moby,
actress and model Maggie Q, who stood in solidarity

with Anita on November 1,

The most important thing that we're promoting today

um, when it come to Anita's case

is that compassion is not a crime. That's what it says on my shirt.

and the founder of PETA, Ingrid Newkirk, who has flown out to Toronto for the trial to show her support.

5 million of our members and supporters are watching Burlington

and want to know what's happening. We think of kindness as a virtue

and not as something to be punished.

The broad exposure of the trial speaks to
the two primary goals of The Save Movement:

to bear witness to the individuals suffering
in the trucks and to document the experience

to share with the world.

Having myself attended a number of vigils
with Toronto Pig Save, and Manchester and

Essex Pig Saves in the UK, I can personally
attest to the incredible impact of bearing

witness and publishing the images
for the world to see.

[Pigs screaming in fear, pain and terror,
gas chamber machinery churning.]

They're being slapped right now!

[Pigs screaming continually.]

Anita: We want people to see what we see and when we look inside a truck we see individuals,

pigs, cows and chickens who want to live.

James: When you show the victims, when you
see their faces, when you look in their eyes

and you see them as individuals it really
helps people connect and have empathy.

Anita: When any of us are at vigils, and we
go up to the pigs or the cows or the chickens

and bear witness we have a camera in hand.

So we’re there for the individual, we’re
present, we say “we love you we’re sorry.”

We see the individual before us but we also
have a camera in hand because we’re trying

to change the world thinking and we’re thinking
about broader issues as well.

Because of the pig trial we’re getting these
images in the mainstream media—they even

looped the video of the incident when I was
charged from June 2015 on mainstream television.

Two days day after Anita’s testimony at
trial, a truck overturned outside of Fearmans

pork, the slaughterhouse at which Anita was
charged.

We’ll hear more about the actual event later
in this video.

Anita spoke to the effect of the crash on
the media.

Anita: There’s been learning in the media.

I think the media has got more and more sympathetic
as the pig trial has gone on and when we had

that horrible crash a few days after I testified
at the pig trial it just had unprecedented

coverage because usually the coverage is either
to ignore it or to say no one was hurt, the

driver wasn’t hurt and this time the media
was there and I think there was incredible

learning.

We told all our activists “Go to the site
and document.”

See if that pig crash happened and there were
no activists that went on site it would not

have been as big a story and it wouldn’t
have been reported as sympathetically.

One news reporter said that this incident
had changed her life and that she wants to

go vegan.

There was another cameraperson from a huge
television station that said he was vegan

and his whole family was vegan.

So I think we’re definitely—the vegan
movement is spreading in the mass media and

it’s just an indication that it’s spreading
across all sectors of society.

The Pig Trial has managed to elicit support
and empathy even from meat-eaters.

I asked Anita and James why this case is reaching
people when nothing else has:

By and large the public is sympathetic.

It’s the idea of defending the Golden Rule.

So: “treat others as you’d like to be
treated.”

Leo Tolstoy said we should take pity on animals
the same way we take pity on each other if

we are not to deaden the voice of conscience.

So people understand across cultures and you know the Golden Rule is thousands of years old.

So the animal agricultural industry cannot
fight the Golden Rule.

And that’s what they tried to do and it’s
backfiring.

While Toronto Pig Save has been holding vigils
and posting images of animals on their way

to slaughter for five years now, this is the
first time they’ve gained international

coverage, and with an impressive reach and
momentum at that.

Anita and James spoke to what they saw as
the driving force behind this growth:

First of all the incident in and of itself,
it’s the best possible incident you can

charge someone on, like, giving water to a
thirsty animal.

So yes [that’s] an incredible incident,
but the other factor is the fact that we are

organized.

You know the reason this is so big is because
there’s a social movement here, it’s not

just some random woman who gave water to thirsty
pigs and was charged.

No.

They charged an organizer.

They charged an organizer who’s part of
an organizing team that’s across Toronto.

And now there’s a global movement—there’s
like almost 90 save groups around the world,

21 new save groups started in the United Kingdom.

We have people like grandmothers, babies—we
have hundreds of people that come to our vigils.

Like our biggest vigil was when you, Bite
Size Vegan first came to one of our vigils.

That was our biggest vigil back in September
24, 2015.

[On] that day we had almost 300 people.

So that was our biggest vigil to date.

Since then we’ve grown and grown and grown.

That's the reason we’re getting great coverage.

And I think it has to do with also with the
trial.

A trial is something I think that the media
can report on.

It’s hard for them to just cover our vigils,
we’ve been doing this for more that 5 years.

Why are we getting mainstream media coverage
now?

Why are we getting international coverage?

It had to do with the trial.

So now our images are getting out there, the
ones that we’ve had all this time.

At the end of the day the news coverage was
that this pig trial put animal agriculture

on trial.

James: Sometimes it’s almost like you forget
that it’s Anita on trial because of the

whole sense of someone there having to defend
the truth of what they do because it’s just

so abhorrent.

In our global society, there is a profound
reversal of right and wrong surrounding our

food system.

Eating a vegan diet is viewed as extreme.

Animal lovers readily consume the bodies of
sentient beings whom they would not be able

to bring themselves to harm.

A horrifically clear example of the laws protecting
the criminal whilst criminalizing those fighting

to save the victims, came on October 5, 2016.

The day the truck crashed at Fearmans.

Anita, fresh from her testimony in court two
days before, was promptly arrested again not

long after her arrival at the scene.

She had refused to step back from documenting
the incident.

I asked James to share some of his experience.

He alludes to a pig named Bonnie, whose story
you can hear more in depth in the video dedicated

to the crash linked in the sidebar and below:

James: As soon as I parked my car and got
out, you could hear the pigs screaming.

There was blood on the sidewalk.

Some pigs had escaped.

In my naïveté, I expect to find
people that are helping the pigs and that

wasn’t happening.

There were people; office workers, that were
holding cardboard to shield the truth from

us.

The cops were complicit in that.

It got worse after Anita left.

I don’t know what they’re called, but
special unit cops arrived with tasers and

it was all around hiding the truth.

We didn’t see this, so we don’t know,
but no injured pigs came off the truck so

they must have killed a lot of pigs because
when I got there the screaming was the worst

screaming and we had heard them screaming
every single week.

It was the worst screaming I had ever heard.

And they walked was it forty or fifty pigs
off the truck.

They shot Bonnie in front of us but there
were no other injured pigs so I strongly suspect

they killed a lot of the pigs on the truck
because all that screaming suddenly stopped.

I mean people are compassionate and people
have empathy.

This is why animal agriculture has spent so
much time and money and effort into shielding

the truth because if people knew what’s
happening they would make the change they

would go vegan.

They would not support and pay for this to
happen

And that’s precisely what the Pig Trial
is accomplishing.

In reality, it’s not so much that Anita
or her lawyers or Toronto Pig Save came up

with some revolutionary argument never before
voiced by animal activists.

When it comes to veganism and the rights,
emotions, individuality, and capacity to suffer

of non-human animals, it’s not a lack of
compelling evidence but rather a lack of a

large enough platform that hinders the reach
of the message.

And unbeknownst to the truck driver and farmer on that oppressively hot day

in June 2015, by confronting and having Anita
charged they supplied that platform.

For the animal products industry, so desperately
reliant on deception and untruths, there’s

nothing more dangerous than giving the voice
of the animals they systematically abuse and

kill, an international stage for their truth
to be heard.

It’s time to expose the real crimes and
the real criminals.

Please share this video far and wide to raise
awareness and give it a thumbs-up if you are

moved by these events.

And subscribe to the channel for more vegan
content every week.

To help support Bite Size Vegan’s educational
efforts, please see the support links below

or in the sidebar.

Find more information about the trial, the
crash, and more on the blog post for this

video linked below.

Now go live vegan, speak the truth, and I’ll
see you soon.