Crated

I'm not anthropomorphizing.

When you rip her piglets away, her grief is agony.

Listen to her voice, look at her eyes, watch her body movements – to the extent that she can move.

She is an enslaved mother, her children fathered by human rape with sperm also acquired by assault. Her maternal mandate is forced and then ruptured, and her broken heart bleeds in her babies’ removal.

The anguish is endless. The cycle will repeat in three days: another pregnancy, another abduction. It will repeat until she is spent and slaughtered.

If you can't relate to pigs and need a visual, today is Day 2 of 21 of a shocking stunt by the hard-core UK activist Michelle Farnham.

She stepped into a real farrowing crate in London’s Trafalgar Square and won’t come out for three weeks, just like mama pigs in the industrial agriculture complex – factory farming in Europe and all over the United States. Michelle obviously will not give birth and nurse, but she will not leave the crate for any reason.

A 24-7 ground team from Animal Rising is providing safety, water, food and a privacy cover for a camp toilet, presumably. She’ll have insulated, waterproof clothes in case of bad weather.

Just like the pigs, she is facing severe, prolonged mobility restrictions. Her joints and tendons will tighten – she’ll have extreme stiffness, especially in her knees, hips and ankles. Her muscles will atrophy and weaken. She’ll suffer pressure sores and bruising from sitting and lying on the pavement.

Her prolonged sitting will elevate her risk of blood clots. Her blood pressure will drop sharply. She’ll have severe gastrointestinal distress. She’ll be sleep deprived and immune suppressed. She’ll be under intense scrutiny. And she’ll be unable to escape any of it.

On purpose.

Michelle’s action coincides with the release of footage from a monthlong investigation following the day in the life of Luna, a pig used for breeding at Red Court Farm. The documentary shows Luna giving birth, nursing, and then losing her babies, all while being intensely confined in a crate.

Luna’s story is the story of all pigs suffering on factory farms worldwide, and Michelle’s demonstration is part of Animal Rising’s broader goal to phase out intensive farming in the UK by 2040. Activists on the ground in Trafalgar Square with banners and video footage are answering questions and gathering signatures on a petition that demand Luna’s release to a sanctuary.

You can sign it right now: https://act.animalrising.org/free_luna_pet.

You can help one pig.

What is it like to care so deeply, to have so much passion for an issue, so much care for someone other than yourself?

This is one woman’s bold attempt to make pork eaters understand. Do you respect her? If you were passing through Trafalgar Square on your way to the National Gallery and saw a woman in a crate, would you stop or keep walking, somehow pretending you did not notice the spectacle? Would you point and laugh with your friend? Would you heckle her directly?

Would you want to shake her hand? Give her a hug? Pull up a crate and join her?

You can follow the installation daily on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/animal.rising.

And ask yourself, if you are the demand for the supply of bacon for a BLT or a plate of moo shu pork, are you willing to do better?

Just what would it take to change your mind?

Photo of Michelle, courtesy of Animal Rising