Two sides with curtains that can open or close. Wooden or concrete walls with plastic covering for ceiling. In order to promote growth and prevent disease, pigs are pumped with drugs and antibiotics throughout their life cycle. In the transport truck, pigs are kept for days without food, water, or adequate ventilation. They suffer from temperature extremes and are forced to inhale ammonia fumes and diesel exhaust.
Death is common during transport.
Adding insult to injury Abuse of the animals by workers has been well documented during pig transport. During unloading, pigs are often violently thrown off elevated ramps and have electrical shocks sent through their rectums to get them to move. In the winter, some hogs come in all froze to the sides of the trucks. Once the pig has been unloaded from the truck, he or she awaits a painful and gruesome death. One slaughterhouse reports that up to 120,000 hogs are slaughtered per week.