An activist snuck a camera into a supposedly “humane” carbon-dioxide gas chamber at a Smithfield pork slaughterhouse and obtained footage that shows “pigs squealing desperately, thrashing about and gasping for air before eventually succumbing,” The New York Times columnist Nick Kristof reported. The gas is meant to stun the pigs before they are killed and has been described as “painless” and “stress free.” While an industry group said the footage showed the gas worked as intended in under 20 seconds, a veterinarian told Kristof he witnessed the animals suffering for 40 seconds.
