Tiffany Langenderfer showed support for her boyfriend’s vegetarian lifestyle by accompanying him to the Ohio State chapter of Mercy for Animals’ monthly dinner and presentation in Derby Hall Tuesday night.

The theme of the evening, Animal Defense is Common Sense, was devoted to raising awareness of the abuses that occur within the pork industry.

Langenderfer clutched his hand and had to look away from the video of a 600-pound pig being bludgeoned repeatedly in the head with a lead pipe. Its throat was slit, then the pig was skinned alive with a small cutting utensil no bigger than an exacto knife.

“I really wish she didn’t have to see that,” said Langenderfer’s boyfriend, James Garcia, a senior in biology.

Dylan Taylor-Lehman, president of the OSU chapter, hopes images such as these will inspire students to join his effort.

“We want people to realize the reality of the situation,” he said.

Freeman Wicklund, Ohio campaign director of Mercy for Animals, organized the gathering of 28 people. The group enjoyed a vegan rice medley that included tomatoes and chickpeas mixed in a tomato sauce.

“I think they tried to stay away from anything too strong. But it had a good flavor,” said Garcia, a vegetarian of five years.

Wicklund began the presentation with a slideshow depicting pigs roaming a Swedish forest, the natural habitat of wild boar. He said pigs are intelligent, sociable, and loyal animals.

“You can teach a pig tricks just like you teach a dog,” he said.

Moments later, tears and down-turned eyes dominated the room as Wicklund moved on to pictures of pigs being forcibly impregnated or castrated and carcasses rotting in piles. Another picture showed pigs stuffed into metal-framed cages not much bigger than the pigs themselves.

“It makes me claustrophobic just looking at that,” he said.

Wicklund warned the group of the grisliness of an undercover video filmed inside a pig farm in North Carolina. A few audience members held their hands over their mouths in disbelief and looked away when a sow’s head was smashed with a cylinder block as farm workers looked on and smiled.

The earlier comparison between pigs and dogs struck hard with Langenderfer.

“All I could think about was our dogs. What would I do if I saw my dog subjected to that?”

In a lowered and shaking voice, Wicklund thanked the group for enduring such horrific images.

“That’s not my favorite part of my job to wreck people’s day, but there are some obstacles to surmount,” he said.

Taylor-Lehman dismissed the idea that these videos are used as scare tactics. “We are using it to further our cause because that’s what our cause is.”

Though horrified by the images, Garcia understands the need for such graphic images to be shown to the public. “Maybe the right person will see this and stop it.”

“We aren’t here to shock and awe. We are really here to serve as a resource and help people learn how to be vegetarian,” Wicklund said. Devoted to exploiting and ceasing the behind the scenes cruelty of the meat, dairy and egg industries, he said Mercy for Animals’ 12,000 nationwide members are trying to build a community among people who are vegetarian or vegetarian-friendly, while raising awareness.

“It’s a really non-confrontational organization,” Taylor-Lehman said.

He also said there has been a large request for vegan and vegetarian menu items in the residential dining halls.

He said Mercy for Animals’ meetings with university officials have been successful in getting the university to listen to those demands. Many of the dining halls now offer vegan and vegetarian options.

Wicklund concluded the meeting by asking OSU students and faculty members to help Mercy for Animals’ efforts by attending future events such as the Columbus Gallery Hop Advocacy Event on March 1 from 8 – 10 p.m.

He also said there are secretary and treasurer offices to be filled for next year, and he encouraged those who feel passionate about the cause of Mercy for Animals to apply.

Garcia and Langenderfer were undecided as to whether they would join, but they said that they enjoyed the event. They plan to attend the March meeting.

The two said they are motivated to fight atrocities of the farm industry.

“I’m not going to support that industry. They’re not going to get any more of my money,” Garcia said.

Amanda Forbes can be reached at [email protected].