When pigs fly - media coverage of pigs and the hog industry

Vegetarian Times, Dec, 1995

The past year has seen the hog industry wallowing in bad press about its farming practices, poor sales and a slew of cute, kid-pleasing porcine stars in Hollywood films.

The trouble began in january, when a new North Carolina state law allowing nuisance suits against hog farmers triggered a flood of litigation. Later, a North Carouna State University study found that the state's burgeoning hog industry (with its accompanying stench) is stunting real estate sales.

Then the effluent really started flying. In July, a North Carolina lagoon burst, dumping 2 5 million gallons of swine waste through fields and woods, eventually forming a brownish plume 10 miles long in the Atlantic Ocean. Two weeks later, an low hog-waste spill killed thousands of fish and spoiled a stretch of river noted for its recreational use. Both incidents brought widespread media attention, and in August, die National Pork Producers Council scrambled to block a negative "NBC Nightly News" story on the pork industry. So far, the story hasn't run.

Last Labor Day, employees at a hog farm in Princeton, Mo. spent the weekend cleaning up three massive spills that destroyed the fish population in a nearby stream. Not far away, "the worst instance of animal abuse ever reported in Missouri," according to state authorities quoted in The Kansas City Star, involved a hog farmer charged with starving 1,000 pigs to death.

Meanwhile, the motion picture "Babe," featuring an adorable porcine protagonist and a strong vegetarian message, drew rave reviews from young audiences (who may think twice before eating their movie pal). This year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture showed stagnant demand for pork, while retail sales of canned meats such as Spam hit a five-year low.

That's one reason Hormel Foods Corp., the maker of Spam, is bristling over a fictional pig featured in "Muppet Treasure Island," an upcoming Muppet movie. In a lawsuit filed last fall in New York, Austin, Minn.-based Hormel alleged that Jim Henson Productions has tarnished the trademark for Spam by portraying "a noxious and grotesque appearing wild boar" named "Spa'am." The suit has been dismissed.

"We are sorry Hormel apparently does not share the Muppet sense of humor, " says a spokesperson for Henson Productions. The new Muppet movie is slated for release in early 1996, meaning it could be the start of another long year for the pork industry.