This alert is no longer active, but here for reference. Animals still need your help.

The mass killing of individual, sentient animals who are raised and killed for food is routine in animal agriculture and perfectly legal, yet sometimes there's a measure of accountability for those who go above and beyond to harm farmed animals. In Iowa, a woman was recently arrested after allegedly being found responsible for causing the deaths of at least 1,000 pigs, who died of thirst and hunger. Urge the prosecutor to take this case seriously and seek maximum penalties.

According to the Sac County Sheriff's Office, on June 30, 2022, officers discovered the bodies of over 1,000 dead and decomposing pigs at two separate sites. Elana Laber, who was employed by Cory ARG Inc. to care for the pigs at both sites, was arrested and charged with only two counts of criminal mischief and two counts of livestock neglect, despite roughly 1,000 animals suffering horribly prolonged deaths.

During the investigation, Laber tried to absolve herself of responsibility, claiming that someone had shut off the breakers that control the electricity the night before, arguing that it was that action that had caused the deaths. However, a veterinarian determined that the pigs had been dead for at least a week, were in various stages of decomposition, and had not had any access to food or water. These deaths took days, not one night without electricity, and she could have done something, rather than nothing at all.

The site manager also told law enforcement that the pigs at the nursery "had been deceased a long time," and that there were dead and decaying pigs at another site. Laber later admitted to knowing they were dead but claimed she did not know what to do.

While In Defense of Animals stands for justice, and it hardly seems just to prosecute an individual for the same routine killing of thousands of social and intelligent pigs either via slaughter or other obscenely cruel methods like ventilation shutdown, we're seeking the maximum penalties on behalf of each pig who suffered a slow and excruciating death due to depraved indifference and negligence in this case.

This alert is no longer active, but here for reference. Animals still need your help.