Three piglets have vanished from a Copenhagen art gallery where they had been deprived of food and water as “art” in a form of protest against the cruelty of mass meat production.
According to the New York Times, the display titled “And Now You Care?” the artist caged three live piglets and let them starve. The Chilean artist, Marco Evaristti, stated he wanted to raise awareness caused by the nation’s pork producers.
Evaristti told media sources the piglets disappeared after maintenance crews had briefly been in the area cleaning the nearby bathroom. The disappearance of the animals coincided with a group of animal activists in the area at the same time.
The piglets named Lucia, Simon and Benjamin were to be symbolic of how sows are bred in the Danish pig industry where typically the mothers give birth to about 20 piglets at a time, but she only has 14 teats to nurse them, leading to starvation and more cruelty.
Police in Copenhagen had not confirmed whether the disappearance of the piglets was theft. Speculation continues whether one of the artist’s staff had contacted the Organization Against the Suffering of Animals to take the piglets. Evaristti stated the abduction of the piglets had been helped by his assistant and friend, Casper Steffensen, who could not stand by and watch the piglets suffer.
Evaristti had been receiving hate mail, and has since closed down the exhibit.
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