My open letter to Hatfield Quality Meats, a response to this horrifying video and the first time I’ve ever referred to Faux News by their chosen spelling:

Dear Sirs:

By now I am sure you are aware of the undercover video of Country View Family Farms aired on Fox News on November 16, 2009, and made available on YouTube and several other sites.  I came across the video in question mere moments ago, and I am writing to express my absolute horror at what I saw, and to demand as a customer that you take real action to rectify and prevent the sort of abuses this video depicts.  If, by some chance, you have not yet seen the video in question, it is available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDiSR0LGry8

Let me be very clear: I am not a vegetarian, nor an “animal rights” advocate, nor a PETA supporter.  The first seven years of my professional career were spent at zoos, where I learned that keeping captive animals is a challenging, sensitive subject, and I saw first-hand the kind of unethical dirty tricks PETA and their supporters will pull to try and convince others to support their agenda.  I am not writing to convince you that eating meat is morally wrong.  I eat meat.  Lots of meat.  Much of it from Hatfield.  In fact I have a pork tenderloin from Hatfield thawing in my refrigerator as I write.

That said, I consider myself an animal lover, and a firm believer in animal welfare.  I do not believe that it is immoral to eat meat.  Human beings are biological omnivores, and animal products are useful, nutritious, and enjoyable.  I am a very firm believer, however, that if we as a culture are going to raise an animal for the purpose of being eaten, we have a heavy responsibility to see that the animal is treated humanely throughout its life, and that its death be brought about with minimal suffering.  These are not mere products, these are living creatures capable of experiencing fear and pain and torment.  If we cannot meet our responsibility, if we subjuect these animals to torment and suffering, then it is irresponsible to raise them.

I have lived in the Philadelphai region for more than fifteen years.  I cannot count the number of times I have passed trucks loaded with pigs on their way to Hatfield.  It’s always a little distressing to see them jammed into a truck, their snouts poking out as the road passes by, but I have always been able to reassure myself that the USDA requires humane living conditions, and humane methods of dispatching these animals.  That belief may have been naïve.  Watching this undercover video certainly shattered my illusions.

I am at a loss to express to you my abject horror, my feeling of betrayal, and the feeling of personal shame, guilt, and responsibility I felt watching this video.  As a consumer of your products, I am faced with the knowledge that I am paying for what I saw.  I don’t just support the industry, but my actual dollars go directly to the company depicted in the video.  It is beyond sickening, and more than once I was moved to tears.

I’m now torn as to what power I have to remedy what I’ve seen.  I could go vegetarian, but it’s the last thing I want to do.  I can try to seek out “free range” or “organic” meats, but as I’m sure you know those labels don’t carry any definitive guarantee that the animal has been raised any differently than they would be on so-called “factory farms.”  I can stop eating pork products, but then where do I draw the line?  The video in question showed pigs, but why should I then assume that other animals are treated any differently?  Cows?  Chickens?

One thing I can do is reach out to your company, and hope that you share at least some of my outrage.  I realize that when people work around these animals day in and day out, they can become desensitized.  Handling pigs all day, they become merchandise.  To some extent, seeing them as products rather than living things may help farm employees to avoid whatever empathy they feel for the animals.  All of these things are natural human responses – but that is all the more reason that you, as a corporation, have a responsibility to oversee the employees and the way they treat the animals.

Worse, however, is that the suffering depicted in these videos is not limited to the actions of employees.  Elements of life for these pigs appear to be matters of company policies.  Again, I understand that you are a corporation and that you are in business to make money, and that certain methods of raising animals humanely are expensive.  As I said before, however, it is my view that as a company raising animals, your greatest responsibility is to see that those animals are raised in a humane environment, and that you have a responsibility to minimize their suffering.  As a consumer, this is what I expect.

And so, as a consumer, I am requesting – in truth, demanding – that Hatfield take action to improve the lives of the animals raised at Country View Family Farms and all of its suppliers.  I can only assume there will be some action from the USDA prompted by the national exposure these videos have received, but punitive measures alone will not satisfy me.

Let me be very clear: if the animals being raised by Hatfield and its suppliers are not raised and killed in humane conditions that keep their suffering to an absolute minimum, I will not purchase Hatfield products.  Furthermore, I will do my best to see that other people come to the same conclusion.

You are in business to sell pork, not to torture pigs.

I would appreciate some response to indicate what action Hatfield will be taking to rectify the abuses brought to light by these videos.  The more detailed, the better.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Yours,

Christopher Keelty