Pig slaughterhouse offends condo dwellers' snouts

Liberty Village residentsliving near a landmark abattoirare raising a stink about thesummertime odours drifting from the killing floor to their condo towers.

Quality Meat Packers Ltd.has been slaughtering hogs at the sameplant at Tecumsethand Niagara streetssince 1916.

'We're the ones who moved in on their area. They were here first.' Liberty Village resident Mark Pesci

While the business's owners say there are no plans to leave,neighboursinsurrounding highrises say the historicpig-processingfactory runs afoul of the increasingly trendy King Street West enclave's residential feel.

They also say themeat-packing operation reeksas humidity and temperatures rise in warm-weather months.

"It's really, really horrible. It's nauseating sometimes,"neighbour Jessi Ehret said of the stench.

About 6,000 pigs arrive every day at the plant, which sits next to a green space and dog park.

'The screaming'

But it's not just the smells that residents say are disturbing.There's alsothesquealing from thepigs as they're hauled in trucks and corralled into the factory.

"It's not a nice sight. You know, the screaming," Ehret said. "If [the slaughterhouse]moved, it would be great."

Not likely, according to a spokesperson for Quality Meat Packers.About 700 workers are employed there.

The company notes that it has been a fixture of the community for nearly 100 years and that it has also taken steps to suppress the smellincluding filtering the air before it's released from the facility. Chemical sprays are also used to mask the odour.

And besides,Toronto's heritage as a pigs-processingcentre helped earnitthe nickname "Hogtown."

That has done little to assuage realtors like Brad Lamb, who argue that Liberty Village has evolved from its industrial-district past into a hip urban area primed forcondo development.

'They were here first'

"Its time is done," Lamb said. "It should move on to other places where it's more appropriate to be slaughtering and processing pigs."

Mark Pesci, who lives in the area, is used to the smell, but he hasamore sympatheticperspective on things, pointing out thatclashes betweenthe old andthe newarea common problem with urban gentrification.

"We're the ones who moved in on their area. They were here first,"Pesci says.

Erin Dowse, owner of the nearbyOld York Bar & Grill,doesn't so much mind the smells, though herpatrons willfrom time to time get a whiff and ask what stinks.

"And I just say, 'Oh, it's the slaughterhouse across the street,'" Dowse said. "It's part of our neighbourhood."