Okay, so I am not a vegetarian...yet, but stories like this push me closer and closer to becoming a convert.  Let's just look at a small sampling of cases from recent times. A mother pig and her little piglets suffered extreme abuse, all caught on video tape during an undercover investigation by <a href="https://secure.peta.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&amp;page=UserAction&amp;id=1131"><span style="color: #008000;">Peta</span></a>.<em> (Please, if you click on that link, be prepared for a graphic photo to greet you.)</em>

Sorry, but this one particular incident just jumped out at me: "A supervisor shoved a cane into a sow's vagina, struck her on the back about 17 times, and then struck another sow." Ummm, what exactly is wrong in this supervisor's world that he would even think of doing such a thing? This man worries me. Get him off the streets NOW please! According to Peta, a total of twenty-two charges were filed against six of the employees caught inflicting abuse.

This farm is actually a supplier of major brand Hormel. Ugh. We purchase our meat from a small grocery that buys from small, local farms, thank goodness, but this just makes you wonder how widespread this type of abuse is in our country? Unfortunately animals can't dial 911 to report their abuse, so they seem to be totally dependent on animal welfare organizations for their protection.

Peta often gets a bad rap for the extreme measures they take, and they surely wouldn't approve of my little meat eating household, but I am grateful for people who are willing to put their safety at risk to uncover this type of behavior on farms. Out of sight, out of mind, so videotaping the abuse and putting it out there for the world to actually see is a huge win farm animal abuse!

In June this year, an Iowa pig farm was the subject of another investigation, this time run by <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/video/abuse-pigs-caught-tape-13951972">Mercy For Animals</a>. "Small piglets hurled to a concrete floor." I can't watch the video. There is case after case being exposed. All you have to is search for it.

What can you do?  Purchase your meat either directly from a farm you can visit, tour and trust, or, purchase your meat from a small, independent grocery store who you trust to vet the farms for you. This has got to stop.