PIG WELFARE HIGHLIGHTED BY PAINTING PIG|南非母豬有繪畫天份 為同類爭取表達自由

I'd like you to meet Pigcasso. The pun name came from her unique talent for painting. Pigcasso has always loved dipping the brush in colorful paint and dragged it across the canvas, People seem to love her work, paying up to $2,000 for an original. This pig was destined for the market. But instead, she found a safe haven to live out her days among the vineyards of Franschhoek because of her potential as an artist. "Pigcasso" the painting pig began painting in October 2016 and is already selling her artworks, described by some as abstract expressionist, around the world. These art pieces have sold for between US$280 and US$2000 each. The funds raised from art sales go towards the South African Farm Sanctuary, a haven for rescued farm animals. Joanne Lefson, who manages the sanctuary, says Pigcasso has innate artistic talent. ==JOANNE LEFSON Farm Sanctuary SA== You know she's very smart and intelligent so I placed a few balls and some paintbrushes and things in her pen, and it wasn't long before I discovered that she really liked the bristles and the paintbrush for some reason. Lefson hopes that Pigcasso's growing fame as an artist will help draw attention to the way factory pig farms are run. ==JOANNE LEFSON Farm Sanctuary SA== As an organisation Farm Sanctuary SA hopes to use Pigcasso to really make a stand with our South African pork industry and for them to outlaw cell confinement systems - which are outdated in the EU and in many parts of the world. Cell-confinement, or gestation crates are the individual stalls that sows, or female pigs are kept in at piggeries. Since 2013 in the European Union, pregnant sows must be placed in group pens for at least the first two and half months of the just over four month pregnancy. Farmer Jeffrey van Zyl explains why gestation crates are used. ==JEFFREY VAN ZYL, farmer== Sows are very aggressive. They do fight a lot when they mix together and especially straight after they've been serviced. Now the market is demanding that we change that - that sows spend less time in crates. And we embrace that - the consumer is king. Lefson says Pigcasso's experience is reason enough for a complete ban on gestation crates so that farm pigs can all enjoy freedom of movement... and expression. TRANSLATED BY：JESSICA OY