The Five Freedoms Ignored:
Hill's Pet Nutrition
Cruelty exposed
This photo is representative of the standard industrial farming practices permitted in the company’s supply chain.Photo: Stefano Belacchi / Animal Welfare Observatory / We Animals
These are among the Five Freedoms that define humane treatment for farm animals – standards supported by more than 90% of the public.
These freedoms represent what consumers expect from companies, and while many leading food manufacturers have put policies in place to uphold the Five Freedoms in their supply chain, Hill’s Pet Nutrition continues to disregard these ethical benchmarks, serving food sourced from farms where animals endure unimaginable suffering.
From animals trapped in small cages for their entire lives, to animals being cut open while alive and fully conscious, Hill’s Pet Nutrition is allowing brutal torture in order to save a few pennies per product.
The excessive use of antibiotics in industrial poultry and pork farming is a leading cause of the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria like Salmonella and E. coli.
It’s time for Hill’s Pet Nutrition to put policies in place that end these cruel and unsafe practices and ensure the Five Freedoms for Animals.
Chickens on industrial poultry farms, like those that supply Hill’s Pet Nutrition, are trapped in a life of misery from the moment they hatch.
Packed by the thousands into filthy, overcrowded shed, many birds are forced to stand in their own waste, leading to burns on their feet and chest. The ammonia from the waste fills the air, making it hard for birds to breathe, leaving many with painful respiratory issues.
On farms that supply Hill’s Pet Nutrition, chickens are bred to grow so unnaturally fast that their bodies balloon to sizes their bones cannot support. With legs buckling under their own weight they often collapse, unable to reach food or water.
Many die from heart failure or skeletal disorders before they can even be sent to slaughter.
But for those that make it, the suffering only intensifies. Roughly handled and thrown into transport crates, chickens are often injured before they even reach the slaughterhouse. Many are still conscious when their throats are slit, left to bleed out in agony.
Their last moments are filled with fear, pain, and a complete absence of compassion.
Pigs in the supply chain of Hill’s Pet Nutrition can endure unimaginable torment. Mother pigs are allowed to be confined for nearly their entire lives in tiny gestation crates, unable to turn around or even lie down comfortably.
These intelligent, social animals are reduced to living in cold metal cages, standing on hard, slatted floors covered in their own waste.
Their bodies become sore and bruised from the relentless confinement, with nothing to ease their physical agony or mental anguish.
On pig farms such as those that supply Hill’s Pet Nutrition, tail docking and teeth clipping may also be routinely performed without anesthesia, leaving pigs writhing in pain as their bodies are mutilated.
The emotional toll is just as severe. Pigs are highly social and intelligent, capable of forming bonds and experiencing emotions.
Pigs in Hill’s Pet Nutrition supply chain can be denied everything that makes life worth living, just so the company can save a few pennies.
Behind the eggs used by Hill’s Pet Nutrition lies a grim reality of suffering.
Hens are crammed into tiny, barren battery cages so restrictive that the birds can’t spread their wings, turn around, or exhibit any of their natural behaviors. These sentient animals are reduced to mere egg-laying machines, enduring a lifetime of misery standing on wire floors that can cut into their feet and leave their bodies bruised and featherless. Packed so tightly, hens often injure each other out of stress and frustration.
Even the basics of life are denied. With no access to dust bathing, perches, or fresh air, these intelligent and curious animals are trapped in a world devoid of stimulation and comfort.
The stress and overcrowding can lead to severe health issues, including brittle bones that fracture easily and uterine prolapse from the relentless egg production. Many hens die in their cages, their decomposing bodies left among the living until workers remove them.
In this system, nearly every one of the Five Freedoms is breached: hens are denied freedom from discomfort, freedom from pain, injury, and disease, freedom to express normal behavior, and freedom from fear and distress.
Yet Hill’s Pet Nutrition permits its suppliers to continue using these barbaric systems.
Hill’s Pet Nutrition has the power and responsibility to stop permitting these extreme cruelties in its supply chain. The public expects better, and animals deserve to live free from this egregious and unnecessary suffering.
It’s time for Hill’s Pet Nutrition to do what many other leading food companies have already done and put policies in place that ensure the Five Freedoms for animals in its supply chain.
