Slaughterhouse
A Swiss farmer gave his pigs a long life on an open meadow. I visited three times. The third visit was the last.
This story was my first real reportage. I came across the project of a farmer in Switzerland. He bred pigs on a large meadow and gave them a long life, without fattening the animals within a short time. Big farms refused my request, probably for a good reason. On his website, the customers could order the meat by type and weight.
In the beginning, the pigs were young and small, romping around carelessly. I remember how this little horde of pigs rushed towards me. They did not stop short before me, but nudged and nearly knocked me over. Later, they were already grown and a little more cautious. Their looks were very touching and reminded me of the look of human eyes.
The third visit was the last, it was also the last day the pigs lived. In the early afternoon they were taken to a little local slaughterhouse. The pigs were each led to the slaughter room one by one. Each was stunned by electro-pincers. The butcher cut their throat and hung the pigs to bleed out. Next, the lifeless bodies were washed in a kind of washing drum with hot water. The air in the slaughterhouse was hot, the humidity unbearable and you could constantly smell the blood, the sliced meat and the burned bristles. The pigs still alive squeaked at the sight of these events. Although they did not understand what happened here, their eyes were filled with a stark fear. Attending this slaughter stopped me eating meat for about two years, after which I would eat meat in responsible doses from time to time.
The story was set to be published in two articles in a local newspaper. The first part was only about the living pigs, showing them in a happy, green environment. The second part showed what happened in the slaughterhouse. It never got printed. The farmers in the village rebelled against it and the editor-in-chief had no courage to publish it. This made me realize: personal projects which may not even get published can still be life-changing and help shape who you are.
I think everybody who eats meat should attend a slaughter at some point. It's too easy to just grab the neatly plastic-wrapped meat from the supermarket.