In a global campaign launched this week, the World Society for the Protection of Animals says pigs and other farm animals are being "brutalized" by "cruel and unnecessary" transport methods, reports Canadian Press.

A year-long investigation by the group, dubbed Handle With Care, aims to expose the harsh conditions animals are subjected to during their long journeys to slaughterhouses.

Canadian carriers, claims the group, are some of the worst culprits.

On one route, about 15,000 pigs are stuffed into containers each year, then trucked from Lethbridge, Alta., to California before being shipped to Hawaii. According to the CP report, the group says the animals are exposed to extreme temperature changes, are deprived of food, water and rest for long stretches of time. Many of the animals die before reaching their destination, the coalition says.

Shipping live animals vast distances makes little sense, the groups argue. Instead, livestock should be raised and slaughtered locally, then shipped as frozen meat.

Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz told CP that the government is proposing changes that would ban the export of live animals if transportation conditions anywhere along the route fail to meet Canadian standards.

-- with files from Canadian Press