Handle with Care campaign making progress in US supermarkets
Mar 21, 2008
© WSPA
A supermarket chain in Hawaii is reconsidering its pork buying policy after the Handle with Care campaign brought the live transportation of pigs to its attention.
Don Quijote supermarkets wrote to the Handle With Care Coalition to announce that it is considering banning pork from imported animals from its stores.
The company also said it did not know the pork it sold came from transported animals before the campaign was launched in February 2008.
Handle with Care aims to end the long distance transport of animals for slaughter.
Working with businesses
WSPA is planning to meet Don Quijote and other supermarkets in March to present the petition letters collected at the campaign website, www.handlewithcare.tv
The campaign has had an amazing response from the public, who have embraced the message that the long distance transport of live animals is cruel and unnecessary.
In just over a month, WSPA USA has collected over 6,000 letters from concerned Americans and Humane Society International (HSI) has collected over 400 letters from Hawaiian residents who want to see an end to the cruelty endured by animals transported over long distances.
Working with governments
The Coalition is also exerting pressure on decision-makers at a national level.
In July 2007, 85 pigs died from heat exhaustion en route from Canada to Hawaii. These deaths accounted for almost 13 percent of all animals on that journey.
This shocking figure prompted the members and partners of the Handle with Care Coalition in North America to write a complaint to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Canadian authorities.
The complaint focuses on animal handling practices at a Californian facility operated by Pacific Livestock Company, where pigs are transferred from trucking containers to shipping containers without being rested in pens.
Rest time is required by the “28-Hour Law”, which regulates US transport. The USDA is currently investigating.
Working with you?
Please join the campaign to end the long distance transport of live animals.
With the support of the public we have a real chance of stamping out this cruelty for good.
Visit the campaign website to find out more and sign a petition letter >>
Read more about the launch of Handle with Care >>
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