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Upcoming Film Starring Pigs Spurs Debate about Humane FarmingTuesday, December 20, 2005The feature film release of Charlotte's Web scheduled for September 2006 stars a female pig rescued from slaughter and currently living on a farmed animal sanctuary in Australia. The pig, named Willy, tours with her new caretaker as she advocates banning gestation crates, saying, "In an intensive piggery there is row after row of pregnant females in tiny metal stalls, barely able to move." The caretaker is asking Australian pig farmers to use exclusively free-range and group housing systems, although one industry representative says only 3-5% of Australia is "suitable" for free-range pigs. The catalyst for this debate, Willy who plays "Wilbur" in the film, was purchased from Paramount Pictures, which based its upcoming film on the 1952 book written by EB White. Other pigs involved with the movie are also getting attention for farmed animal protection issues in Australia and the US. The New South Whales-based group Voiceless appeared with Daisy the pig on December 5 when the group released a new report on the treatment of farmed pigs in Australia (see below). According to voiceless, "90% of Christmas hams come from factory farms with the pigs living in cramped concrete-floor indoor cages." In the US, two pigs from the California sanctuary Animal Place were recorded by film sound crews and their grunts will also be used in Charlotte's Web. |