You were never meant to see this John.

John, in recent weeks I became aware of an act of bravery for animals that took my breath away.

Ignoring the risk to their lives, the Farm Transparency Project team filmed within the secretive gas chambers where most pigs in Australia spend their final moments.

So publicly significant was the footage gathered across three slaughterhouses that Australia's premier current affairs program, ABC 7.30, dedicated the majority of last night's program to this issue.

As 7.30 highlighted, pigs from all methods of production – factory-farmed, free-range and RSPCA Approved – go through cruel CO2 gassing systems.

This is an important moment in humanity’s history. 

Do we continue to allow such treatment of sentient beings? Or do we grasp this moment to say ‘this ends with us’?

It is simply impossible to watch this vision without thinking,‘How could they?’

But the question most needed to be asked is ‘Why did they?’  

Why were these monstrous machines invented? What ‘need’ were they seeking to address?

The answer is that the pig industry needed a way to kill thousands more pigs each day to meet the growing global demand for pork, bacon and ham products.

As a result, these huge gassing chambers, in which traumatised pigs would take their final pain-wracked breath, were invented and are used in many countries around the world, including the United States and UK.

The driving factor behind their invention was consumer choice. And the only way to bring them to an end is via consumer choice.

These gassing chambers set a new, utterly indefensible, high bar for animal suffering that the average person would never condone, nor want to support.

But we didn’t know... Now, because of the courage and compassion of the Farm Transparency Project team, we do.

The pig industry will say that these chambers of horrors are the 'best method' they have to kill pigs.

The opportunity before all who care is for us to say resolutely in return, ‘Stop killing them then, we will make other choices.’

John, paradigm shifts are created by us, one by one, detaching from the collective consciousness where animal suffering was accepted, and instead consciously choosing from the heart.

Through doing so, we not only carve a path; we become the bridges between the old world and the new. 

Long ago, the words came to me, ‘Those who have suffered most at human hands may well be our saviours.The suffering of animals is calling on human hearts to awaken.’

These pigs' dreadful suffering in these gassing chambers is calling to us all...

They need us now, to act and choose on their behalf, and one by one lay claim to a new potential, a new pathway that leads to a kinder world.

For the animals,

p.s. Watching this footage will be life-changing – and choice-changing – for many people. So, can you help to make sure it spreads like wildfire around the world? You could forward this email or share this page on our website with your friends, family and social networks. The best chance these animals have of being spared from gas chamber slaughter is caring people becoming informed and understanding their power as consumers to create change.

p.p.s. In all my years as an animal cruelty investigator, I'm not sure I have witnessed a greater act of bravery or resilience to capture this heart-wrenching footage. Please consider making a donation to support the extraordinary efforts of the Farm Transparency Project team and see other ways you can support their campaign here.