An epidemic is sweeping rural America. Three out of every ten pigs is already suffering the symptoms and the numbers are growing. And what is this rampant disease? Foot-and-mouth disease? Mad cow disease? Mange? Obesity? No. Depression.
Clarence Bright, a veterinarian in Knoxville, Tennessee, says that dire warnings from the Pig Health Organization about the growing prevalence of depression among pigs reflect their precarious high-cholesterol diet, workaholic personalities and nonstop, up all night partying lifestyle. "They have to learn to relax. The average pig in the state of Tennessee has high blood pressure, drinks too much coffee, overeats, gets little exercise and sleeps only two hours per night. Pigs sleep in confined, crowded quarters. Yes, a barn can afford protection from the elements. But it can turn damp and cold during the winter."
"And of course, even during the day, pigs are surrounded by other pigs. Goats, cows, hens, horses, hogs, ducks can also effect the pig's self-esteem. Personality conflicts, language differences all contribute to the pig's need to adapt to its surroundings."
"One in every seven pigs is on medication. Prozac. Of course there's no cause for alarm. The pressure to be a successful pig has caused in recent years changes in the pig's lifestyle. A pig in the twenty-first century leads a much more complex existence."
"Heavy, chronic drinking is on the rise among pigs. They used to never touch the stuff. But now alcoholic beverages are readily consumed. Pigs have taken up other bad habits, including smoking, chewing tobacco and gambling. Pigs on the average each have heavy credit-card debt, upward to ten thousand dollars. A result of purchasing consumer products on the internet."
"Pigs watch at least twenty-eight hours of television a week. That's up a whopping forty percent since the last decade. Today if we told the true story of the three little pigs it might not be recognizable. In previous generation, pigs were more diligent, thoughtful. A pig born a hundred years ago were much less sophisticated. Certainly not as easily manipulated by advertising."
"The modern pig suffers chronic illnesses such as heart disease and dementia. It is not uncommon to find pigs with high blood sugar levels. Irritable bowel syndromes. Arthritis, diabetes, emphysema, hepatitis-B and severe bloating. Pigs who don't regularly exercise are up to six times the risk of having poor circulation in their feet, enlarged hearts and liver dysfunction."
"In recent years, more and more pigs are born with birth defects. This development we believe has resulted from their exposure to car and tractor exhaust fumes and polluted drinking water. In many ways, the pig mirrors the human being now, at least in how it has been routinely victimized by modern conveniences. The demands of a competitive job market and in general, the quest for the good life. The pig's purpose not altogether known to them. They seem lost. The mysterious event of their births finds them curiously unknowledgable, not having a clue as to their true meaning."
"We quite naturally being intelligent human beings, far more advanced as a species, don't often find ourselves in that position."
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