State veterinary officers are seeking the answer to a question that has never had to be asked in Malta before: is racing too stressful for a pig?
The organisers of the upcoming Bacon Festival in Żejtun, already the target of social media outrage from countless vegetarians and vegans, caused further stir yesterday after announcing that the festival would feature “pig races” alongside the various bacon-related food items.
MP Mario Galea, the shadow minister for animal welfare, was the first to express outrage at the proposition, describing the planned races as “animal cruelty” and announcing thathe had alerted the Animal Welfare Department.
“Pigs aren’t made to be used as racing animals, especially not in the height of summer with the heat we have in Malta,” he told the Times of Malta. “When God created pigs, he definitely wouldn’t have imagined that humans would one day have them racing in the streets.”
Determined to stop the races from taking place, Mr Galea insisted he would even consider a sit-down protest on the day if Animal Welfare did not step in before then.
It was just an idea; we’re not sure whether we’ll actually do it or not
“There’s nothing wrong with fundraising, but we don’t need to be cruel to animals to raise funds,” he said. “There’s a need to speak up now to ensure it doesn’t spread to other localities.”
When contacted, a spokesman for Animal Welfare said the veterinary department would be holding talks with the organisers to determine whether the races would be harmful to the porcine participants.
“Veterinary officers will seek to establish if the race will be stressful for a pig, as they are not animals meant to run, even in the wild (unless hunting or running away from danger),” he said.
“If the race is short (around 20 seconds) it may not harm the animal, but as the department is still compiling information in this regard, we are unable to comment further at this stage.”
Meanwhile, the organisers of the festival, which will take place next month to raise funds for the Dar Nazareth shelter, insisted the uproar over the planned races was premature.
“It was just an idea; we’re not sure whether we’ll actually do it or not,” Etienne Schembri from the Dar Nazareth Foundation said, adding that the plan was still at an early stage.
Asked for a reaction to the claims of animal cruelty, Mr Schembri was non-committal: “There are different views on that,” he said.
Pig races are relatively common elsewhere in the world, particularly in the United States, but have consistently been called out for potential mistreatment, including by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta).