Lamballe-Armor: an association requests a stele for the pigs who died in the flames

“In memory of the pigs who died in the fire on a neighboring farm. If we were all vegan this wouldn't have happened. » This is the inscription that the anti-speciesist association PETA (For ethics in the treatment of animals) suggests engraving on a stele in homage to the 2,000 piglets and 90 sows who died last Saturday, November 2, in the fire of a livestock building, at a place called L'Hôpital, in Saint Aaron, in the town of Lamballe-Armor.

This non-profit association, “whose motto says in particular that the animals do not belong to us and (that) we do not have to use them for our food”, wrote a letter to the mayor of Lamballe Armor Philippe Hercouët, to ask him for “permission to place a memorial near the farm to commemorate the sentient beings who lost their lives in terror and agony”. A request received by email this Monday morning and on which the elected socialist has not yet commented.

Already three, four similar requests to other town halls

“While the defenders of intensive breeding talk to us about small family farms, this fire is the illustration of this agricultural model: 80% of animals in France are herded by the thousands in huge buildings,” denounces Anissa Putois, the communications and campaigns manager for PETA France.

So far, the association has already taken similar steps with French town halls “in three or four cases over the last few years”. without ever obtaining satisfaction for the moment. “There were a lot of victims in this accident which saddened many people. Through this initiative, we also want to make people think about this system and the meat industry. »

“Become vegan to prevent these tragedies”

In a press release sent to Télégramme, anti-speciesist activists

thus call on the population “to become vegan to prevent these tragedies and spare sensitive animals a lifetime of suffering”. According to Mimi Bekhechi, PETA's vice president for Europe, “animals raised and killed for food often live crowded in dark sheds where they cannot satisfy their natural needs, and sometimes never see the light of day until 'the day they are taken to the slaughterhouse'.

And the association manager insists: “Let us remind anyone shocked by the tragic end of these pigs that they were doomed to a violent death, even though they all value their lives as we value ours. (…) In the intensive farms from which the vast majority of meat sold in France comes, these intelligent animals live penned in overcrowded and unsanitary sheds, where they are deprived of everything that is natural to them. When they are only a few months old, they are taken to the slaughterhouse where they are gassed to death in a CO2 pit or hung upside down and their throats slit.”