Canadian actor Ryan Gosling has waded into the controversy
over housing gestating sows in crates.
According to the National Farm Animal Care Council’s news release,
Ryan says "I
applaud NFACC for working to improve life for Canada's pigs, and hope it will
close this dangerous loophole by disallowing the pork industry from confining
pigs for weeks at a time - something that I would never dream of doing to [my
dog,] George, and that no compassionate Canadian would ever do to any
animal."
Gosling
apparently does not know anything about why hog farmers started housing sows in
stalls, nor does he seem to realize that sows will bully and injure each other
if and when they are introduced to group housing.
Gestation
crates are the hot-button issue in the hog-farming circles this summer.
A
number of retail chains, such as Tim Horton’s and Loblaws, have set deadlines
for when they will no longer buy pork from pigs raised on farms that house gestating
sows in crates.
After
years of negotiations, a group that has been pondering revisions to the Code of
Practice for tending hogs, has recommended a much-abbreviated period during
which housing sows in gestation crates will be acceptable.
A
significant number of hog farmers have voiced concerns about that proposal
which is up for public comment before a final draft is prepared later this
year.
The
Humane Society of the United States has led the push to ban the crates and
pioneered the tactic of lobbying large-volume retail marketers, such as
supermarket and restaurant chains.
In
Canada, Loblaws and Olymel, either the nation’s largest or second-largest pork
packer, have announced they will join the ban. Loblaws’ deadline is 2022;
Olymel’s is 2023.
