Also on today’s agenda:

A news conference in Little Rock by the group Mercy for Animals about practices of a Walmart pork supplier in Minnesota. The group has undercover video that it says illustrates inhumane treatment of animals, including use of gestation crates for mother pigs and brutal handling of piglets.

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The group has posted the videos here. They are brutal. You can understand why the agriculture lobby has been trying to stifle such undercover efforts by criminal state statutes.

Mercy for Animals wants Walmart to adopt new guidelines for suppliers that would end use of gestation crates. Said the group:

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Gestation crates have been widely condemned as one of the cruelest factory farming practices in the world. In fact, gestation crates are so inhumane they have been banned in nine U.S. states, as well as in the entire European Union. Recognizing their inherent cruelty, over 60 major food providers, including McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Chipotle, Safeway, Kroger, Costco and Whole Foods, have all started demanding their suppliers do away with these cruel crates. Yet Walmart continues to support blatant animal abuse by buying pork from suppliers that condemn intelligent and social animals to a lifetime of misery and deprivation.

You can find a Walmart response to past protests here. It says it does not tolerate animal mistreatment.

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