By Connor Lynch
The trial of animal activist Anita Krajnc on a charge of mischief after she fed water to pigs on their way to a Burlington slaughterhouse was a hotbed of public attention, both good and bad, for agriculture.
Krajnc was found not guilty but that’s not the end of Krajnc. Her group, Toronto Pig Save, has scheduled ongoing weekly demonstrations with up to 12 protestors holding signs one intersection away from the Fearman plant in Burlington.And this is not the only case of tampering with livestock. The anecdotes of public interference abound. But anecdotes aren’t actionable. So Ontario Pork is setting up a system where livestock truckers can report incidents to get some hard data to work with.
“We’ve got truckers out there and we hear things anecdotally, but there’s nothing to tell the scope or ramifications of what they’re going through,” said Frank Wood, manager of industry and member services.
Ontario Pork is looking to roll out some test methods for livestock truckers to report incidents over the summer, to see what methods work the best. “More than likely we’ll have more than one way of tracking (incidents),” said Wood.
It’s too soon to say what that data will be used for, said Wood. “What we’re trying to do is understand the magnitude of what is or isn’t happening. Then figure out what to do with it.”
Ontario Pork plans to track all incidents that delay or disturb livestock, including accidents and anything not involving protestors.
