Gabriel Wildgen

Senior Associate VP of Public Policy @TheHumaneLeague. Passionate about transitioning to a humane, just, and sustainable food system.

[The Humane League @TheHumaneLeague]

Huge news: the Senate released its Farm Bill text, and because you spoke up, the cruel "Save Our Bacon Act" is NOT in it! This is a massive testament to the power of our community, but the fight isn’t over. Let's protect this win 💪 Take action: https://t.co/zvun0hs7An

[Nicholas Kristof @NickKristof]

It has been remarkable to see so many public figures, on left and right alike, standing up to oppose the systematic abuse of pigs. The "Save Our Bacon Act," which would privilege abuse of pigs over the right of voters to ban it, is in real trouble. Thank God.

[Gabriel Wildgen @GabrielWildgen]

@SenSchumer Can't thank you enough for standing up to protect animal cruelty laws, Senator Schumer!

[Gabriel Wildgen @GabrielWildgen]

This is the kind of leadership we need on this issue. Thank you, @SenSchumer, for standing against making animal cruelty laws illegal.

[Chuck Schumer @SenSchumer]

I OPPOSE the Save Our Bacon Act and any attempt to jam it into the Farm Bill.

This bill would gut state food safety and animal welfare laws, wipe out voter-approved protections, and strip states like NY of the right to set basic standards.

It's a giveaway to Big Ag and meat monopolies, punishing family farmers who followed the rules, while giving the biggest corporations more power to squeeze farmers and families.

Congress should be lowering food costs, not rewarding the monopolies driving them up. The Save Our Bacon Act does not belong in the Farm Bill, and I will fight to keep it out.

[Gabriel Wildgen @GabrielWildgen]

@NickKristof Powerful piece. Thank you for amplifying this issue during this critical time.

[Nicholas Kristof @NickKristof]

Here's what the pork industry doesn't want you to know about the way it sneaked a provision into the 2026 farm bill that would nullify ballot measures that improve animal welfare, while helping Chinese companies torture American pigs. The issue is personal to me, because we once raised pigs on our family farm, and I saw that these are not commodities but animals rather like dogs: smart with very distinct personalities. A naughty boy who punishes a single animal may be punished, but an adult who presides over the systematic abuse of hundreds of thousands of pigs as a business model is hailed as a visionary CEO -- and voters get that, and that's why they have backed laws that improve animal wellbeing. This is, remarkably, an issue that unites many liberals and conservatives alike; @TomiLahren, @Cernovich and @IngrahamAngle are among those who have been outspoken on this issue. I hope R and D members of Congress alike will stand firm, for the stakes are immense, with four pigs slaughtered around the clock on average all year. Here's a gift link to my piece: https://t.co/NWQbJK6JTc I welcome your comments.

[Krista Kafer @KristaKafer]

CO led the way in adopting humane farming practices. Now the U.S. House is trying to stop that momentum. @SenatorHick @SenatorBennet Please amend the Farm Bill to ensure states can protect animals from inhumane treatment. Thank you!
#copolitics
https://t.co/ukE04LZA4G

[Josh Balk @joshbalk]

The pork industry lost with voters. Lost at the Supreme Court. So they turned to Congress—and got the "Save Our Bacon" Act buried in the House Farm Bill. It's the biggest rollback of animal welfare protections in U.S. history. A thread. 🧵

[Steven Pinker @sapinker]

It may be unrealistic to expect the world to become vegetarian (at least not until synthetic meat is produced at scale), but that doesn't mean we must treat farm animals with vicious cruelty. Small protections can reduce massive harm at tolerable costs. Tell your senator to vote NO on the Farm Bill if it includes the "#SaveOurBacon Act."

[Taylor Lorenz @TaylorLorenz]

This makes me sick to my stomach. Pigs develop friendships, they have rich emotional lives and even show empathy when other pigs are in distress. They’re smart and can do puzzles. They feel sadness and pain. To do this to them is so evil.

[The Humane League @TheHumaneLeague]

🚨 The Farm Bill is officially moving to the floor with harmful language that could overturn animal protection laws across the United States. We need to fight back before the vote tomorrow. Tell your legislators to vote ❗ NO ❗ on the Farm Bill: https://t.co/YH8TYt4arF

[Gabriel Wildgen @GabrielWildgen]

Inexcusable. We must take action now to call our Representatives and urge them to vote down this whole Farm Bill.

[Lewis Bollard @Lewis_Bollard]

This is shocking: the House Rules Committee just blocked a vote on stripping the Save Our Bacon Act from the farm bill.

The SOB Act, buried deep in the farm bill, would wipe out state bans on pork from crated pigs, condemning millions to a lifetime in gestation crates.

We were getting very close to having the votes to pass Rep. Luna’s bipartisan amendment to strip the SOB Act from the bill on the floor of the House.

Then pork industry lobbyists got to work. Behind closed doors, they got Rules Committee leadership to stop a vote entirely and protect the SOB Act from the scrutiny it can’t survive.

The only option now is to kill the whole rotten farm bill. Please call your representatives at [phone] and tell them to vote NO.

[Cass Sunstein @CassSunstein]

ANIMALS MATTER (my most personal and heartfelt book, ever), now available for preorder. Amazing cover to come. @NickKristof @Lewis_Bollard
https://t.co/IPkyB2gufL

[Lewis Bollard @Lewis_Bollard]

Pigs don't just feel fear themselves. They also feel the fear of other pigs — and try to comfort them.

In one study, pigs watching another pig in distress first showed fear themselves and then tried to comfort the distressed pig through snout-to-snout contact. Pigs who'd previously endured the same ordeal reacted even more intensely — they seemed to recognize what the distressed pig was going through. (Goumon & Špinka, 2016.)

On factory farms, pigs trapped in gestation crates aren't just feeling afraid themselves. They're feeling the fear of all the other pigs around them. But the crate's iron bars stop them from even turning toward their fellow pigs — let alone comforting them with their snout.

[Lewis Bollard @Lewis_Bollard]

This is a pig who spent years confined in a gestation crate. She was left behind when factory farms flooded in Iowa and then rescued by some volunteers.

The volunteers took her home and dug her a mud pit. She ignored it. They assumed years of confinement had extinguished her natural instincts.

Then they noticed her wandering into the woods on their property. They followed her — and found her rooting in a pile of dirt, digging her own mud pit.

The pork industry claims pigs adapt to confinement. They don't. Inside every gestation crate is an animal who still yearns to root, wallow, and just be a pig.

This is the tragedy of factory farming. We tried to reduce feeling animals to machines. We failed.

[Voters For Animal Rights @theanimalvoters]

Today, we won! 🦆💜

After years of legal battles, organizing, and refusing to back down, New York City’s ban on the sale of foie gras has been upheld by the state’s Appellate Division — and we couldn’t be prouder of every single person who made this moment possible. VFAR is a proposed intervenor-appellant and an amicus curiae in the case.

Read more on our blog! https://t.co/sJ4r3QYlps

[Tomi Lahren @TomiLahren]

Let’s ask @RepAshleyHinson why she thinks packing pregnant pigs into 7 x 2 metal crate for 16 weeks sounds like a remotely humane or decent thing to do.

[Evan 🏛️🪶🌹 @Grand_Ole_Evan]

This is sickening.

Gestation crates are unimaginably cruel.

Pigs have been shown to have some cognitive abilities comparable to those of a THREE YEAR OLD child.

Stop this now.

[Laura Ingraham @IngrahamAngle]

China-backed Big Pork wants to override 63% of California voters. Even conservatives are mad https://t.co/1kRTQZXwJo

[Chris Holbein @c_holbein]

Heads up: corporate agribusiness has formed a new "think tank" called the "Center for American Food Power" to justify the cruelest and most polluting factory farming practices in the name of "national security."