Viewers Experience the Horrors of a 3D Virtual Slaughterhouse

A quick internet search will bring up countless links to videos of slaughterhouses. Whether the victims are pigs, cattle, or chickens, animal rights organizations have worked tirelessly documenting and posting videos depicting the horror and fear in the final moments of an animal’s life in a slaughterhouse. However, most would agree that nothing comes close to the impact of actually being there as frightened animals are prodded to the killing floor.

Thanks to a collaboration between Animal Equality and Condition One, viewers can now immerse themselves in the experience of a slaughterhouse without actually being there. i-Animal, a twelve minute 3-D virtual reality film of a slaughterhouse in Mexico, allows the viewer to go beyond the conventional two dimensions of a documentary film. In i-Animal, the viewer cannot escape the terrifying sights and sounds, the looks of panic as each pig waits helplessly in line with the next pig to be slaughtered. Without the ability to distance oneself from the film, the viewer is left reeling with the emotional rawness of the images. Even after taking off the VR headset, these images remain.

It is a heart wrenching experience, according to Barbara J. King in her NPR article on i-Animal. Although she had seen other documentaries of slaughterhouses, she concludes, “Yet, something extra-powerful comes across in VR. The heightened visual closeness brings about heightened emotional attunement and, thus, the true extent of the cruelty to individual, sentient animals.”

King ends her report with a powerful statement: “It’s that we need to see and stop what we’re doing to other animals — and not only in the last few moments of their lives.”

Read King’s article about i-Animal here

i-Animal demonstrates that virtual reality can be an effective tool to increase the transparency of slaughterhouses. However, increased awareness is only part of the equation. In order to alleviate animal suffering, we need to change our current practices. You can save hundreds of animals from slaughterhouses by eating a plant based diet.

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