I found the tiny black piglet during my first summer home from college. We formed an instant bond—one that I feared would be broken when we separated for my return to school in the fall. At semester's end, I anxiously pulled in the driveway of the farm where I'd boarded him for the winter. As I stood on the lawn, …

Whether this new month is coming in like a lion or a lamb, March 1 was National Pig Day, which, according to its cofounder, has been set aside "to accord the pig its rightful, though generally unrecognized, place" as a smart and social animal. George Clooney and his dear departed companion pig would agree.

And …

Out along highways and rural roads throughout the U.S., you'll see tractor-trailers loaded with pigs—or cattle, turkeys or chickens—taking the animals to their fate. Most of us prefer not to think of the gruesome end that these animals face. But scenes of slaughter play out along these same roads again and again as the trucks overturn. Recently, a …

British celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recently made dog lovers howl when he stated that, from an ethical standpoint, anyone who considers it abhorrent to eat puppies should feel the same way about eating pigs. After all, pigs are intelligent, curious, and social animals.

Like the dogs I grew up with, my …

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Think of a taboo food, something that people might be offended or disgusted to see on their dinner plates. Maybe you thought of rats? Pigs? Horses? Cockroaches? Many foods are forbidden in different cultures across the planet, but chances are that you thought of a food made out of animals, because most …

In 2006, my husband and I set off on a vacation to Ecuador. After a scenic five-hour drive from Quito, we arrived at the Black Sheep Inn, which is located in the small village of Chugchilan. This cozy inn situated high in the breathtaking Andes Mountains is a shining example of responsible and …

When I was a humane officer in Maryland, my job was to bring prosecutions for cruelty to animals. I had been called out to an abandoned farm and found the place in a mess. A dog had been left on a chain and had somehow survived. The horses …