Unseen – A look into the final hours of life for pigs from Smithfield

A meat packing facility.

A slaughterhouse in the heart of California.

These places exist in the shadows
so we're never shown what happens

inside.

It begins on a factory farm,
like Smithfield's Circle Four.

Hidden away from scrutiny in the Utah desert,
inside the world's largest pig producer,

Individuals are reduced..

..to units of production.

With mothers and their newborns trapped in
metal cages, the machine of animal agriculture

does its work in secret..

creating suffering on a scale never before imagined

and building the perfect storm for
pathogens in the process.

California voters have been trying to outlaw these operations..

..but as an industry with little oversight..

..the state continues to truck-in animals from places like Circle Four.

After six months of confinement at Smithfield,
individuals who survive are crowded on top

of each other, up to 200 at a time, into steel
transport trucks, for a 700 mile journey through

the heat of the Southwest..

..without food, or water, or anyone to care.

So I followed them, as they were driven all
day and into the night..

while they dreamed of escape.

But this isn't their ride to freedom.

Thanks to a whistleblower, I was given a window
into a business built on killing.

They arrive sick, thirsty and scared into
unfamiliar surroundings, while they're beaten

in the holding pens, so the next truck load can come.

Some of them lay dead on the truck, while
others are painfully crippled, and individuals

who've become too sick to walk on their own
are executed with a bolt gun..

instead of receiving medical attention.

Workers themselves suffer routine physical
injuries, which are often unreported..

for fear of reprisal.

And the psychological impact of the work has
long lasting effects.

Carrying diseases from factory farms across the continent..

..some of the pigs continue to weaken, and die.

Those who perish suddenly are simply labeled "dead".

Others who show obvious signs of illness are sometimes killed, and briefly examined..

but only the symptoms of their diseases are ever determined.

To the industry, the misery endured by these
individuals, and the risks of their diseases,

are merely an inconvenience to be covered
up for the sake of profit.

So too are the workers treated..

..constantly exposed to suffering, disease and death..

..without understanding the risks..

..as though they were human expendables.

An industry so focused on profit over personal suffering can only create one terrible outcome.

Is this who we really are?

Even if they make it inside..

..their reward is one of the most cruel endings possible for anyone..

..a gas chamber.

As they are pushed forward, they limp into
the loader together.

And for the first time in their life they
see their own reflection..

..in a mirror used to lure their attention.

Before being forced into the gas chamber gondola..

..load after load.

The USDA tells us that gas chambers are humane..
but see for yourself.

Over 8,000 individuals are gassed like this
at this facility every week.

These facilities are designed to profit on
killing at any cost.

The industry wants to be trusted to regulate
itself, but how do you regulate an operation

so focused on bloodshed?

They're supposed to be killed before they
wake up again, but the supervisors fail to

prevent routine mistakes in the slaughter process.

Infections are so common, and run so deep,
an inspector is dedicated to cut out what

they can see, so the rest of their body can
be sold as though they were healthy.

This is animal agriculture.

The industry wants us to focus on what we
put in our mouth or buy in a store;

on an object, not its origin.

But what happens if we ignore the warnings,
while building our house on injustice?

How can we achieve peace..
while a body means more than a life?

How can we nurture love..
when oppression is on our plate?

And the truth is hidden from us?

Without laws to protect victims..
in a system created by greed.

We're basically building the highways for
these microbes to transfer into our bodies.

It's having tragic consequences right now
with over 20 deaths, just in the last week.

People think "I'm not a cow..",
"I'm not a pig..", "I'm not that animal.."

so they don't care.

But people can think "I'm not
this race..", or "I'm not this gender..".

That doesn't make it right.

Rescue the victims of oppression.

Challenge violence with the power of compassion.

Create the laws that value morality.

End exploitation at its foundations.

Expose the truth to protect our future;

to prevent pandemics while we still can.

Turn towards suffering with the strength of mercy.

Because our fates are connected..

If we don't stop this industry.