“The worst thing, worse than the physical danger, is the emotional toll. In the stick pit [where hogs are killed], you kill but can’t care. You might see a hog, think it’s a nice animal, even want to pet it. Pigs have nuzzled me like puppies. Two minutes later, I had to kill them. … I can’t care.”
The emotional dissonance from such work leads to domestic violence, social withdrawal, substance abuse, and severe anxiety. Slaughterhouse workers increasingly face post-traumatic stress disorder, prompting researchers to explore the effects of killing sentient animals for a living.
Animal products are marketed as humanely raised, cage-free, free-range, pasture-fed, hormone-free, etc., but these stories omit the fact that an animal was killed. The person who killed it, someone we rarely consider, had to declare “I can’t care” to cope with the trauma of the job.
