Curb the cruelty

It is well known that time spent in transit and the accompanying handling is extremely stressful for farm animals. Research shows that the level of suffering increases with the length of the journey. Most farm animals are transported multiple times throughout their short lives, and often over long distances across provincial and national borders, before they are finally slaughtered. In 2008 alone, more than 9.4 million pigs and 1.5 million cattle were exported from Canada to the United States and some continued on long, gruelling journeys to Mexico. Canada also exports cattle to Colombia and thousands of pigs to Russia, South Korea, Venezuela and Vietnam, among other countries for breeding purposes.