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Yahoo
19 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Humane Society asked to leave Hanover fair over papier mâché pig, human-sized cage
Winnipeg Humane Society staff say they're disappointed that the organization was asked to leave the Hanover Ag Fair in Grunthal, Man., on Saturday, after setting up an animal welfare display that featured a papier mâché pig and a human-sized cage at the on Saturday. The humane society said the display was intended to raise awareness around gestation crates or "sow stalls" — metal, cage-like enclosures that are about two metres long and half a metre wide. Krista Boryskavich, an animal advocacy lawyer with the Winnipeg Humane Society, says gestation crates are "barely larger than the animal itself," leaving little room for the animal to turn around. The human-sized crate staff brought to the fair was intended to simulate that experience and spark conversation, she said. "Pigs are very intelligent creatures, so this is a mental welfare issue, as well as a physical welfare issue," she said. The humane society was asked to leave the fair about three and a half hours after setting up. "We were promoting dialogue on some very important animal welfare issues and we're a little unsure as to why that was not acceptable," Boryskavich said. "The dialogue is important and should have been allowed to continue." The Hanover Ag Society, which runs the annual summer fair, said it gave vendor space to the humane society "under the assumption they would be promoting their pet adoption programs," in a statement posted to social media. Boryskavich said the organization's vendor application did not mention adoptions. The humane society has been bringing Charlotte the papier mâché pig and her cage to events across Manitoba for decades, Boryskavich said. As far as she's aware, this is the first time they've been asked to leave. Earlier this summer, Charlotte went to the Winnipeg Fringe Festival and the Manitoba Sunflower Festival in Altona, Man. She has a few more market events planned until the end of August. "We've had this crate in existence for decades now and the issue has not disappeared, these crates have not gone away," Boryskavich said. According to the National Farmed Animal Care Council, gestation crates were supposed to be phased out by July 1, 2024, in favour of group pens. That deadline has been pushed back to 2029. About half of Manitoba's pork producers still use gestation crates, Boryskavich said. She said the humane society brought the display to Hanover because it was a good opportunity to meet directly with producers. "We're not out to create controversy, but we do want to have that discussion and talk about ways that we can improve animal welfare in a meaningful way," Boryskavich said. "This is not an urban-rural divide on values or issues. I think that compassion and empathy exists no matter whether you live in Winnipeg or whether you live in rural Manitoba," she said. CBC News reached out to the Hanover Agricultural Fair but did not receive a response before publication.
Winnipeg Free Press
20 hours ago
- General
- Winnipeg Free Press
Agricultural fair shuts down Humane Society's pig-crate display
Staff members from the Winnipeg Humane Society were kicked out of an agricultural fair in rural Manitoba this weekend after they set up pig cages and placed people inside to show what it's like for confined animals. The Hanover Agricultural Fair posted a statement online Saturday saying the organization accepted the society as a vendor at the annual fair 'in good faith,' under the assumption it would be promoting pet-adoption programs. Instead, the society set up a display featuring an assortment of informational and advocacy materials, including brochures about pig-gestation crates and rodeos. Part of the display included a replica cage people could enter to experience what it feels like to be locked inside, Krista Boryskavich, the society's director of animal advocacy, said by phone Sunday. The display was in place for more than three hours Saturday before fair organizers shut it down, she said. 'What we were presenting did not align with the event's values, and they asked us to leave, and so we did,' Boryskavich said. 'The whole point of us doing these events and doing this advocacy, it's certainly not to create controversy or to create a divide in communities. We wanted to go out to rural Manitoba where factory farming is taking place to raise awareness.' Boryskavich said the society has used the pig cage for years as a tool for education and advocacy. It set up the display at the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival and the Manitoba Sunflower Festival in Altona without issues last month. She said there was a miscommunication between the humane society and organizers of the Hanover fair. The display is intended to spark dialogue about gestation crates, Boryskavich said. The metal cages are used to hold pregnant pigs. They have been criticized for being inhumane because they are usually only a few feet long and provide little space for the animals to stand, sit or lie down. The Manitoba Pork Council began encouraging producers to stop using gestation crates more than a decade ago, with the expectation they would be fully phased out by 2025, the Free Press reported previously. Boryskavich said the crates are still in use. 'There are two sides to every issue. Our focus is on the animal welfare context of these factory farming practices. Of course, a farmer might have a different perspective than us, but we want to make sure that people are getting the full perspective,' she said. Boryskavich said the society will continue providing gestation crate demonstrations at various events, but will clearly communicate with event organizers beforehand. She said the society is scheduled to appear at events in Selkirk and Richer before the end of the year. The Hanover Ag Fair did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday. Tyler SearleReporter Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press's city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic's creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022. Read more about Tyler. Every piece of reporting Tyler produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
