A Toronto woman currently on trial for giving water to slaughter-bound pigs was detained by police Wednesday, while protesting at the site of an overturned tractor-trailer carrying pigs.
In a video posted to her Facebook page, Anita Krajnc is seen sitting in the back of a police cruiser in Burlington, Ont.
“The pigs are being herded off to the kill floor,” she says in the video before a police officer approaches and takes away her phone.
The truck carrying pigs to slaughter lost control and flipped over at Appleby Line and Harvester Road just after 7 a.m. on Wednesday, Halton Regional Police said in a news release. The driver was treated for minor injuries.
As news of the truck crash spread, protesters gathered at the scene. Some of them screamed “Justice for animals!” while others waved posters that read “Go vegan” and “Save me!”
Other video footage from the scene shows Krajnc being handcuffed as police tried to move the crowd off the roadway. Halton Regional Police have not confirmed Krajnc’s arrest.
Krajnc, 49, testified this week at her trial that the negative health effects of bacon were on her mind when she poured water through the portholes of a truck carrying pigs to a slaughterhouse in on a hot day in June, 2015.
Krajnc has pleaded not guilty to a mischief charge in relation to that incident.
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) issued a statement Wednesday commending the “kind people” who tried to rescue any pigs found wandering around after the crash.
“PETA asks everyone to spare a thought and spare a pig by turning away from bacon and ham, rather than turning away from what these animals endure every day,” the statement said.
The pigs were being transported to the Fearmans Pork Plant in Burlington, Ont. when the crash occurred.
