PLANET IN PERIL

Dr. Ryan Brook, Associate Professor in the College Agriculture and Bioresources at the University of Saskatchewan . Dr. Ryan Brook says such a drastic and aggressive move would be justified because the animals can carry deadly disease such as African Swine Fever. ASF entered China, the world's largest hog producer, some time ago, forcing major culls of domestic animals there. It is feared the disease could spread to North America and that wild pigs could prove to be carriers and infect commercial swine herds in the US and Canada. It is believed such an eventuality would devastate the pork industry on this continent. Dr. Brook suggests the wild animals could be captured in nets dropped from helicopters, then killed with bolt guns. He claims big ground traps and human ground crews could effectively catch and kill entire groups. Wild pigs in winter. A Pexels photo. He adds, while he respects sports hunters, their methods are not effective at controlling wild hog numbers.

  Alon Olamel Onebird, host of the program "Rogue Primate" on CKUW - University of Winnipeg Radio - interviews Ruth Pryzner of Hog Watch Manitoba, about the tactics being used by our provincial government in order to secure the financial success of big hog corporations.

The Ecologist. Almost a trillion Euros in taxpayers' money is handed to EU farmers as part of the Common Agricultural Policy. The money is supposed to leverage environmental practices. But an international team of investigative journalists, today publishing with THE ECOLOGIST, has found the cash actually feeds significant pollution. More here.

The Guardian Pigs outstripped people in Duplin county long ago - but now the residents are fighting back . More here.

RODALE INSTITUTE A behind the scenes look at the Rodale Institute Organic Hog Facility with Farm Manager Ross Duffield. More here.

Letter to the Editor Virden Empire-Advance May 3, 2018 01:57 PM Rural people could wake up one morning to find a factory hog barn next door, and there will be nothing they can say or do about it if the hog industry gets its way and the Pallister government passes Bill 19,  The Planning Amendment Act . Bill 19 gives local councils and planning districts the “choice” to get rid of the mandatory conditional use approval process for large livestock operations, along with all the legal protections the public currently has. In so choosing, municipalities give away the ability to set conditions such as requiring manure storage covers and shelterbelts to attempt to control odour and require development agreements to make the hog factory pay for road building and maintenance, instead of taxpayers. All municipalities will have to review their zoning by-laws and decide within one year if they want to control large factory hog and poultry operations, cattle and sheep feedlots on be

Expectant Moms spend their pregnancies in heartless, confining steel crates. PLEASE SIGN!

THE BUREAU OF INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM A PEXALS photo. How "Parma" ham became a battleground for the future of Italian food . Story here.

Last October, just before the provincial government relaxed regulations to allow for many more hogs to be produced in this province, George Matheson, Chair of the industry group, “Manitoba Pork,”  testified  before a legislative committee.  In an astonishing display of corporate hype, Matheson seemed to think he could, with a single statement, obliterate years of solid scientific research, conducted in his own province. “Hog manure is not getting into our rivers and lakes,” he declared. “The vast majority…about 85 per cent, is injected into the soil of farmland or immediately incorporated into the soil. This method of application essentially stops manure from running off the land. I cannot overemphasize this point. This means manure does not get into rivers and lakes. In fact, it is illegal for manure to leave a field.”    In her long career with the University of Winnipeg’s biology department,  Dr. Eva Pip  (below) has come to a dramatically different conclusion. Af

John Fefchak of Virden (L.) has been a critic of the hog industry for years. An Air Force veteran now in his eighties, he writes many letters to the editor. They're often in a losing cause, and often at odds with the "pro-hog" editorial stance of many mainstream media. But neither circumstance nor time have deterred him. His letters drive home the wrong-headedness of politicians who "cheerlead" for an industry with so many downsides, including a propensity to pollute our precious waterways. Below is John's latest letter, telling of his experiences with the Sun, a daily newspaper in Brandon, Manitoba.   (PinP) ======= Is The Brandon Sun Newspaper Applying a Double Standard? On Nov. 14th, 2017, the Sun published yet another story about yet another hog producer complaining of being "hard done by." This after the Pallister government had already passed legislation recklessly slashing health and environmental protections, in order to pave t

Please check out this brand new website from Hog Watch Manitoba to find out about the provincial governments disturbing plans for hog industry expansion and why you should care!

The Winnipeg SUN A group that fears relaxed hog rules will heighten water pollution has united to fight against the proposed changes. Story here.

Dr. Blaine Tully   - Canadian Association of Swine Veterinarians Farmscape for July 28, 2017 The President of the Canadian Association of Swine Veterinarians says swine veterinarian in Manitoba have stepped up their focus on addressing a new more virulent strain of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome. A new more virulent strain of PRRS, a viral infection that affects pigs of all ages and stages of growth, has been identified in Manitoba. Dr. Blaine Tully, the President of the Canadian Association of Swine Veterinarians and a partner with Swine Health Professionals in Steinbach, says genetic sequencing to determine whether it's related to strains experienced in Manitoba or other parts of the country have shown that its kind of a lone wolf. Clip-Dr. Blaine Tully-Canadian Association of Swine Veterinarians: We have about 12 or 15 farms, the majority of which are in southeast Manitoba but we do know there's farms in the Interlake and out into central Manitoba that h

(Brandon Sun,13 June) It's a funny thing how industries that are in trouble invariably take out full-page ads in the newspapers to proclaim their virtue in search of public approval. Such is the case with Saturday's ad by the Manitoba Pork Council featuring chairman George Mathison. Chairman Mathison, referring to the "red tape reductions" proposed by the province, emphatically proclaims that "None of the proposed changes will lower environmental standards." Come now, George - that really is a bit of a stretch.

WINNIPEG: HWM, a citizens’ group which monitors the industry in the province, calls the blaze “horrific.” Three thousand, five hundred pigs perished when two barns burned to the ground near New Bothwell last week. It’s just the latest in a series of similar incidents in the province that have left thousands more hogs dead over the past decade. The barns are not equipped with the same fire walls or alarm/sprinkler systems that most other buildings must have. And HWM fears that plans by the Pallister government  to remove what it calls “impractical and costly” fire prevention regulations in barn construction, will only make a bad situation even worse.How can these changes make the situation better?   “Although the thousands of pigs that have died in barn fires are not someone’s pet, they are all sentient beings that have the capacity to suffer fear and pain” says Vicki Burns of HWM. “If there were horrific fires like this in animal shelters like humane societies, the pub

The Winnipeg Free Press Manitoba's hog population rose by 18.7 per cent between 2011 and 2016, the highest increase in the country, according to Statistics Canada's agricultural census. Details here.

Hog Watch Manitoba (Winnipeg May 17) - A citizens group which monitors the hog industry in Manitoba, has cautioned the provincial government,  if it goes ahead with its apparent plans to expand production,  not to repeat the mistakes of the past. In a recent meeting with three cabinet ministers, Hog Watch Manitoba    (HWM) reminded them how “technical review committees,” which used to “oversee” the construction of both hog barns and lagoons designed to hold the waste, overlooked errors in the planning. These errors were so serious, they eroded both the public’s trust of the industry and in government policies relating to it. HWM is deeply concerned about the Consultation paper recently released about proposed changes to the Livestock Manure and Mortalities Management Regulation. Fred Tait, member of the HWM Steering Committee, says “We fear that if implemented, it will simply enhance the mistakes of the previous administration.” HWM urges the government to implement the