The Ottawa Humane Society was called in to round up a farrow of piglets that was abandoned outside Premier Dalton McGuinty’s Kilborne Avenue constituency office yesterday morning.
The seven piglets, all only a few weeks old, were discovered at around 7:15 a.m., in a makeshift pen constructed from plywood, with some food and water for the animals and bedding scattered over the sidewalk.
However, the pen left the piglets with no access to any shade to escape the sun.
The pigs were accompanied by posters and letters accusing McGuinty and Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Minister Leona Dombrowsky of causing a crisis in the hog farming industry.
Seven piglets were also left in front of Dombrowsky’s constituency office in Belleville.
Dombrowsky’s spokesperson, Kelly Synnott, said they acknowledged the pork industry is experiencing challenges and they are working with the Canadian Pork Council and the federal government to address the concerns, but she said abandoning piglets as a protest tactic is not an acceptable way to treat animals.
