Hi, I'm Joaquin Phoenix, and I need your help with a very serious issue: ending the sickening abuse mother pigs endure at Walmart pork supplier factory farms. Please sign my petition asking Walmart to phase out inherently cruel gestation crates within its pork supply chain.

If you’ve ever met a pig, you know they are extremely intelligent and friendly animals much like the dogs or cats we all know and love. In fact, pigs are widely considered one of the smartest animals on the planet.

Unfortunately, right now, millions of these smart and social animals are crammed inside restrictive “gestation crates” and forced to live nearly their entire lives in abject misery and deprivation at Walmart pork suppliers nationwide.

Gestation crates are something straight out of a horror movie. The crates are made of steel and concrete and are just barely larger than the pigs’ own bodies. Isolated and nearly immobilized in such small crates, these sensitive animals are unable to even walk, turn around, or lie down comfortably, let alone play, explore, or engage in other natural behaviors that make life worth living.

Locked inside these tiny torture chambers, pregnant pigs can only languish in their own misery as the years slowly pass by. These curious animals lose their minds from boredom and stress. They often also suffer painful pressure sores from rubbing against the bars of their cages and crippling joint problems as their muscles waste away from lack of use.

If Walmart executives did this to even one dog or cat instead of millions of pigs, they would be thrown in jail.

Even more upsetting is that Walmart stands obstinately behind the times in its continued support of these inherently cruel gestation crates. In just the last few years, nearly every other major food provider in the country, including Target, Kmart, Kroger, Safeway, and Costco, have committed to ridding their pork supply chains of gestation crates.

But not Walmart. Walmart's continued support of gestation crates is absolutely unacceptable.

With your help, I think we can change that. Please, take a moment to sign my petition calling on Walmart to do the right thing and stop letting its pork suppliers get away with torturing animals. Tell Walmart to phase out cruel gestation crates in its supply chain.

Thank you.